イントロ

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.

Yesterday it was the Tanabata festival in Japan. People celebrate Tanabata by writing wishes on small bits of paper and hanging them in bamboo.


photo by: Toshihiro Oimatsu


photo by: wtnb75t


photo by: Tamaki Sono

Of course, not everyone does this, I think most people probably don’t … and you’re more likely to do it if you go to a school or kindergarten. And yesterday I read a diary entry on lang-8 about Tanabata. A guy said that his daughter celebrated the festival at kindergarten and one of the wishes that she wrote was: I want toys of Anpanman.

What’s wrong with that?

Anpanman is a Japanese cartoon character by the way.

And this should be: I want Anpanman toys.

Some more examples following that pattern could be:

I want Mickey Mouse toys.
I want Thomas the Tank Engine socks.
I want Winnie-the-Pooh stickers.






Click Here

Today I recommend a site called MyLifeIsAverage.

I found this in a story on CNN about humour sites … and I think it’s pretty funny. It’s a list of very short stories about, as they say on their site: the mundane things in your life.

They’re the kind of stories that do actually happen to you but that you wouldn’t normally tell anyone because they’re not that interesting.

Here are a few examples:

Today I threw an empty bottle into the recycling bin about 10 feet away and made it. I wished more people were there to see it happen. MLIA.

Today, a cute guy sat next to me on the bus. I changed the music on my iPod to something more intelligent in case he looked to see what I was listening to. He didn't. MLIA

Today I made a new email account, when it said my password was "very strong" I got excited. MLIA

And here’s one about language that I can relate to … but probably shouldn’t admit to.
Today, a friend had emailed me saying "skools gunna bee sweetz nxt year :D goinnn outz tonite, wanna chillz:) ?" I was highly irritated by her spelling and grammar, so I never replied. MLIA






STICK NEWS

Kia ora this is Stick News. A living monument began in London on Monday. It’s an art project by a British artist and will continue for 100 days 24 hours a day.


Antony Gormley is a 58-year-old English sculptor.
His latest work is called One and Other.
It’s an art project in which 2,400 people stand on top of something called a plinth in Trafalgar Square for an hour each for 100 days.
The project started on Monday at 9am and is being streamed live online 24 hours a day.

And that was Stick News for Wednesday 8th of July.
Kia ora.

today's STICK NEWS pictures






Word of the Day

Today’s word is mediocrity.

On the about page of MyLifeIsAverage it says that the site is a place to share your everyday mediocrity.

So, what is mediocrity?

n. the quality of being average or not very good

The adjective is mediocre.

And it means: average or not very good.

And it’s usually used in a disapproving way, for example if you went to a movie or you had a meal at a restaurant and you didn’t think it was very good, you could describe it as mediocre.

Have you been to The Banana Café?
Yeah, I have.
What’s it like? I’ve heard it’s really good.
Really? I thought it was pretty mediocre actually.






conversations with sarah

　What’s Anpanman about?

Kara
What’s Anpanman about?
アンパンマンって何ですか？

Sarah
Um, good question … I don’t think I’ve actually ever seen it or read it.
それは良い質問ですね。　私は今まで実際に見たり読んだりしたことが無いと思います。

Kara
Isn’t it very popular?
とても人気なんですよね？

Sarah
No, it’s ridiculously popular. Well, the merchandise is anyway. You see it everywhere.
とてもどころか熱狂的な人気です。　まあ商品的にですが。　どこに行ってもアンパンマンだらけです。

Kara
What does Anpanman mean?
アンパンマンの意味は？

Sarah
Oh, the name?
名前？

Kara
Yeah. Is it just a name?
はい、それはただの名前ですか？

Sarah
Well, anpan is a kind of pastry. It’s like a sweet bun with beans and sugar inside. And man means man. So anpanman is a character made out of anpan.
アンパンはペーストリーの一種です。　甘いパンの中に小豆と砂糖が入っています。　マンの意味はそのままです。　つまりアンパンマンはアンパンの形をしたキャラクターなのです。

Kara
And what does he do?
それはどんな活躍をするんですか？

Sarah
Um, fights the bad guys I guess. I don’t know. And I think all the characters are made out of some kind of food. Like there’s one that looks like a piece of toast.
悪者と戦うんだと思います。　よく分かりませんが、他のキャラクターも全部食べ物らしいです。　トーストの形をしたキャラクターもあるようです。

Kara
Called Toastman?
その名前はやはりトーストマンでしょうか？

Sarah
Yeah, probably, I don’t know.
そうかも知れませんね。　私は分かりません。





サラのメモ：
One of my favourites:
http://mylifeisaverage.com/story.php?...





Show 1084 Wednesday 8 July
The Daily English Show
http://www.thedailyenglishshow.com/

テーマ: 英語・英会話学習 - ジャンル:学校・教育

Hi!私は英語を
勉強しています.
あなたのblogはとても勉強になります(^^)

NAME:

TITLE:

MAIL:

URL:

COMMENT:


PASS:

SECRET:
管理者にだけ表示を許可する

トラックバックURL
→http://tdes.blog120.fc2.com/tb.php/675-cdb12989
この記事にトラックバックする(FC2ブログユーザー)