© Copyright, 1999 by Richard Vaughan. All rights reserved. 1

Unit 10 – Repaso de lecturas solamente 10.17 The present simple –

third person only

PICTURE 29

Phillip Johnson

Esta es la primera lectura, la cual procede de la unidad 10. Se incluye aquí porque es importante que vayas conociendo la vida y milagros de nuestros 15 personajes. Los conoceremos a través de lecturas cortas. Primero el profesor leerá el texto y después tú lo leerás. Es importante que hagas un esfuerzo para ir gradualmente consiguiendo una buena producción oral al leer. Esto te ayudará enormemente en el futuro para pronunciar bien y hablar con buen ritmo y cadencia. Para que te prepares bien, te pongo a continuación el texto de la lectura:

Phillip Johnson is 39 years old. He’s married and has two children. He lives in a nice house in Lincoln, Nebraska. He is a businessman and he works in a bank in the center of Lincoln. He is the general manager of the bank. He goes to work every day at 8:30 in the morning. He gets to the office at 9:00. He parks his car under the bank in the parking garage. In the morning, he usually works from 9:00 to 12:30. He spends a lot of time talking on the telephone and reading financial reports. He usually has lunch near his office. There are many good restaurants in the center of Lincoln. He goes back to the office at 1:30 and stays there until 6.00. After work, he usually goes home, but sometimes he goes to his son’s school to watch him play basketball or baseball. He usually gets home from work at 6:30, but when he goes to see his son, he gets home around 8:00. He likes his job because he has a good salary and because he works with a lot of interesting people. He doesn’t travel very often in his job, but from time to time he needs to go to Omaha, a city 150 miles from Lincoln. When he goes to Omaha, he usually comes back to Lincoln on the same day, but sometimes he needs to spend the night there. He usually stays in the Omaha Sheraton Hotel, but sometimes he stays in the Holiday Inn. He prefers the Sheraton because it has a breakfast buffet.

nice house

businessman parking garage to spend reports usually to get home very often from time to time spend the night to stay

buena casa – el adjetivo “nice” (náis) significa majo, simpático, bueno, amable, etc. hombre de negocios (bísnesman) En Reino Unido se llama “car park” Este verbo aparece aquí como “pasar” tiempo. También significa “gastar” en el sentido de gastar dinero. informes – se pronuncia: repórts Usamos esta palabra normalmente para expresar “normalmente”. llegar a casa. Usamos mucho el verbo “to get” en el sentido de “llegar a” muy a menudo de vez en cuando pasar la noche Este verbo significa “quedarse” o “permanecer”. También se usa, como en este caso, para alojarse u hospedarse.

10.18 The present simple – third person only

PICTURE 30 Nancy Johnson

Nancy Johnson is 38 years old. She is Phillip’s wife. She lives with her husband and children in Lincoln, Nebraska. She’s from Kansas, the state immediately south of Nebraska. She is an interior decorator. In the morning, she teaches interior design at a technical school 20 miles from Lincoln. She starts her classes every day at 10:00 and finishes at 12:00. She has two classes, each with about 15 students. Then she goes home to have lunch. After lunch, she goes to her husband’s bank where she spends about 30 minutes with the woman responsible for expansion. She looks at the plans for the new branch banks and gives recommendations about the interior design and decoration. She doesn’t receive a salary for this. She does it because the woman is a good friend of hers. In the afternoon, she works as an independent decorator. Some days, she spends two or three hours visiting different clients and other days she stays at home creating decoration plans or calling people. She decorates offices, restaurants, and homes. She doesn’t like to decorate offices very much because the companies usually prefer functional decoration and this is boring for her. She doesn’t like to decorate restaurants either, because often the owner of the restaurant thinks that he’s a professional decorator too. She likes to decorate homes because she is free to make more decisions and to be more creative.

immediately

teaches design technical finishes each goes home responsible a good friend of hers boring to make...decisions

Pronunciación: emídiatli Nota que al cambiar el verbo “teach” a tercera persona del singular, añadimos una sílaba más: teaches (tíches) diseño (disáin) Se pronuncia: técnical Igual que “teaches”: se añade una sílaba más en la tercera persona cada o cada uno (se pronuncia: ich) va a casa – nota que no se inserta la preposición “to” entre “go” y “home”. Nota la ortografía: responsible (con “i” latina) una buena amiga suya (de ella) aburrido tomar decisiones

© Copyright, 1999 by Richard Vaughan. All rights reserved. 2

10.19 The present simple –

third person only

PICTURE 31 Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson – Michael is 14 years old. He lives with his parents and sister in Lincoln, Nebraska. He goes to a public school 10 minutes from his house by car. His sister goes to a different school three blocks from his. Michael is in the ninth grade and he studies Math, Science, History, English, Speech, and Music. He plays the trumpet in music class, but he isn’t a member of the school band because he doesn’t have time to practice with the band after school. School starts at 9:00 o’clock. Michael gets to school a little early because his father takes him every day and leaves him there at 8:40. Michael spends the 20 minutes before his first class talking with some of his friends. Lunch is at 12:00 and Michael usually eats a sandwich and a bowl of soup and drinks a coke. His mother doesn’t like this, so Michael tells his mother that he drinks milk for lunch. His classes in the afternoon end at 3:30. Michael is a member of the football, basketball, and baseball teams at the school. He is a good athlete. He’s fast and strong. He plays football in the fall, between September and December. He plays basketball in the winter, between January and April, and he plays baseball in the spring. He is a very popular boy because he is good at sports. He’s intelligent but he doesn’t work very hard in class and he doesn’t spend much time on his homework. His teachers like him but they tell his parents that he needs to think more about his studies and less about sports.

blocks

from his ninth grade Math Science Speech music his father takes him... leaves him there... so to end athlete in the fall popular he doesn’t work very hard

manzanas (de calles) del suyo el noveno año de colegio Forma breve de decir “matemáticas”. Se pronuncia: maz Se pronuncia: sáiens (spich) – clase de comunicación interpersonal Se pronuncia: miúsik Su padre le lleva... ...le deja allí asi que terminar. “To end” se usa para cosas. “To finish” se usa para personas. Es decir: I finish - it ends atleta – se pronuncia: ázlit en el otoño. Esta es la forma americana. Se dice “autumn” en Reino Unido. Se pronuncia “pápiular” “no trabaja mucho”. Es común en ingés usar la palabra “hard” (duro) cuando hablamos de trabajar “mucho”.

10.21 The present simple – third person only

PICTURE 32 Denise Johnson

Denise Johnson – Denise is 11 years old. She lives with her parents and brother in Lincoln, Nebraska. She goes to a primary school near her brother’s school. She is in her last year of primary school. Her father takes her to school every day with her brother. She gets to school at 8:45 and goes to the playground to play with her friends. Her first class begins at 9:00. She has the same teacher all morning, until 12:00. Then she has lunch in the school cafeteria. She always eats with her two friends, Jenny and Pamela. They live on the same block and study in the same class. They spend more than six hours together at school and probably three or four hours together after school. Denise’s mother likes Jenny but she doesn’t like Pamela very much. She thinks Pamela is very bossy. Two days a week, Denise stays after school in the gym for ballet classes. She doesn’t have a natural talent for ballet, but she likes to dance and has very good technique. The teacher thinks that she has the potential to become a good dancer, especially if she doesn’t grow too fast. On the days that Denise has ballet, she stays at the school until 4:30. Jenny takes ballet lessons, too, and Jenny’s mother takes both of them home after the lessons.

...gets to school playground begins cafeteria always together bossy Two days a week gym ballet technique especially grow too fast

llega al colegio zona exterior de recreo “comienza”. Es un sinónimo de “start”. En EE.UU. esta palabra se usa para “restaurante de autoservicio” siempre (álueis) juntas mandona Dos días por semana. Decimos literalmente: Dos días una semana gymnasio. Es una forma corta de decir “gymnasium. Se pronuncia: balé “técnica”. Se pronuncia: tekník sobre todo, especialmente crecer demasiado rápido

© Copyright, 1999 by Richard Vaughan. All rights reserved. 3

10.22 The present simple –

third person only

PICTURE 33 Nigel Perkins

Nigel Perkins – Nigel Perkins is 55 years old. He’s English and lives in a country estate 35 miles north of London near the M-1 motorway. He’s married to Margaret Perkins and has one son, Ronny. Nigel owns a company that investigates suspicious people who receive big payments from insurance companies. His company is very famous in the United Kingdom and it has a lot of important clients. It even has some clients in France and in the United States. Nigel doesn’t work every day. He goes to the office in the center of London two or three times a week. He has a good team of managers who run the company very well. On the days that Nigel doesn’t go to London, he likes to spend his time reading and taking care of his garden. His estate is big. It covers almost 30,000 square meters. Nigel has three full-time gardeners to help him to take care of the estate. Nigel wants to write a book about some of the interesting investigations from his company’s past. He thinks that one or two of the investigations are good material for a novel or even for a suspense movie. His son, Ronny, thinks he’s crazy, but Nigel doesn’t pay any attention to his son. Ronny spends his time on the French Riviera, where he owns a small company that rents yachts for short cruises between Monte Carlo and the Balearic Islands. He makes a lot of money in the summer and asks his father for money in the winter.

country estate

married to owns payments insurance companies famous the United Kingdom clients even the United States who run the company taking care of almost full-time crazy pay attention to rents yachts cruises he makes a lot of money

casa señorial de campo En inglés decimos “casado a” posee en propiedad pagos compañías de seguros pronunciación: fámas pronunciación: de iunáinted kingdom Existen dos palabras en inglés para “cliente”: “client” (cláient) para servicios y “customer” (cástamer) para productos incluso pronunciación: de iunáinted stéits quienes dirigen la compañía cuidando de casi a tiempo total (a diferencia de “a tiempo parcial”) loco prestar atención (en inglés la atención “se paga”... no se presta) alquila yates. No te asustes... se pronuncia: iáts cruceros. Se pronuncia: krúses gana mucho dinero

10.23 The present simple – third person only

PICTURE 34 Luigi Barghini

Luigi Barghini – Luigi Barghini is 49 years old. He’s from a small town in the north of Italy and lives now, with his wife, Sofia, in a beautiful villa outside Verona. He has a lot of money because he owns a big factory that supplies car seats to Fiat in Turin. Luigi is the chairman of the company, but his daughter, Ana, is the managing director. She takes care of the day-to-day business, while Luigi spends a lot of his time visiting different members of the Agnelli family that owns Fiat. He also spends a lot of time in Germany, because his company is negotiating with Mercedes Benz a big contract to supply car seats for the small models that Mercedes makes in Stuttgart. He is a very busy man, but he enjoys his work. When he’s at his villa near Verona, he always goes to the factory, 23 kilometers away, to see his daughter and to visit with the workers. He probably spends at least three hours on the floor of the factory talking with workers, inviting them to coffee, telling jokes, and having a good time. He likes the people in the north of Italy and really enjoys human contact. That’s probably the reason why his company is strong and healthy. He doesn’t consider that his work is a job. He considers it a game, something that he likes to play. Of course, he wants to win and he wins, but he has a good disposition all the time and he doesn’t like to take things too seriously. His daughter, Ana, is different, but she is a manager, not an owner.

villa

supplies car seats chairman managing director she takes care of the day-to-day business busy he enjoys... 23 kilometers away at least telling jokes to have a good time healthy to win to take things too seriously

casa señorial de campo de tipo italiano suministra asientos de coches presidente del consejo de administración consejero delegado ella se ocupa de las actividades del día a día ocupado, atareado – se pronuncia: bísi él disfruta de, a él le gusta a 23 kilómetros de distancia al menos - se pronuncia: at list contando chistes pasarlo bien, divertirse sano, saludable ganar (uén) - ganar un partido o cuando le toca a uno un premio tomar las cosas demasiado en serio

© Copyright, 1999 by Richard Vaughan. All rights reserved. 4

10.24 The present simple –

third person only

PICTURE 35 Pierre Monet

Pierre Monet – Pierre Monet is 45 years old and lives in the suburbs of Paris. He is married and has three children. All of his children live at home except Gerard, who lives in a student residence not far from the Sorbonne, where he studies Architecture. Pierre is a civil servant. He works in the translation and interpretation department of the Foreign Ministry in the center of Paris. Every day he goes by train and subway from his house outside of Paris to the ministry. It takes him almost an hour to go and about 45 minutes to come back in the afternoon. He leaves home at 7:00 and gets to the ministry just before 8:00. When he gets to his office, he always has a lot of letters and documents waiting for him. He is responsible for a very special area of his department. He decodes and translates all secret documents that come in English and Spanish. He speaks and writes both languages fluently. His wife is Spanish and his mother is English. Pierre is an expert translator. He usually doesn’t translate documents in writing. He dictates the translation verbally directly into a microphone. Later, a secretary transcribes the recording onto paper. This way, Pierre translates very quickly and finishes his work early. He usually goes home around 4:00 p.m. He doesn’t have lunch in the dining hall of the ministry. He takes a sandwich to work every day and eats it at 12:00 o’clock sharp. He prefers to continue his work without interruptions in order to go home as soon as possible. When he gets home, he starts his second job. He is a free-lance translator and he dictates his translations into his own microphone. The same evening, or the next morning, his wife, Anne-Marie, enters the recording into a computer and sends it by e-mail to Pierre’s clients. Pierre has a good salary at the ministry, but he earns double at home. He needs the money because his three children are very intelligent and all of them want to go to the university.

the suburbs

except

Architecture

civil servant

Foreign Ministry

it takes him

translation

subway

documents

waiting for him

area

decodes

both

fluently

in writing

dictates

recording

This way

early

dining hall

12:00 o’clock sharp

to continue

without

as soon as possible

free-lance

his own microphone

he earns

las afueras

pronunciación: eksépt

pronunciación: árkiteksur

funcionario.

Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores. “Foreign” se pronuncia “fóren”.

tarda... ello le lleva (en tiempo)

traducción

metro en EE.UU. En Reino Unido se dice “underground” o “tube”.

“Subway” se pronuncia: sábuei

se pronuncia: dákiuments

esperándole

se pronuncia: éria

descodifica

ambos. Se pronuncia: bouz

fluidamente, con soltura

por escrito

dicta

grabación

“De esta manera”. Nota que no ponemos “in” delante de la expresión

temprano, pronto

comedor grande en una entidad (dáining jal)

las doce en punto

pronunciación: contíniu

“sin”. Se pronuncia: uizáot

lo antes posible

por libre

su propio micrófono. Pronunciación de “own” = óun

él gana. El verbo “to earn” significa “ganar mediante el trabajo”.