viernes, 5 de mayo de 2017




Lamb to the Slaughter






Audio and text of Roald Dahl's short story "Lamb to the Slaughter"

lunes, 23 de enero de 2017

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou, "Still I Rise" from And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems.  Copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou.  Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Source: The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994)

domingo, 8 de enero de 2017

New Year's Resolutions


 

New Year is when we make plans to change our life over the next twelve months. A professor said: "January 1 is a 'magical' date and a vow made on this day is much more powerful than one made on August 26." Most of our promises to quit, start or change things are usually broken by January 31st. They are usually the same resolutions that were not fulfilled from previous years. People tend to make the same resolutions even though they cannot keep them.



Around 45 per cent of us make resolutions. The most common ones are to lose weight, volunteer, quit smoking, save money, and get fit. Others include eating healthier food and drinking less alcohol. Most of us do not stick to these. A study found that 71 per cent of us stick to them for the first two weeks. This goes down to 50 per cent after six months. Most people give up because they lack willpower. They 'escape' by thinking they will 'try again next year'.

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