вторник, 28 февраля 2017 г.

  When is it easier to live?


I`d like to write about nowadays life and about life of our parents. Which variant is easier?  I would like to start with education. Learning was always important  for our parents as much as for us . However, what can we say about employment? Well, nowadays many people even being educated can`t find their place in life just because there are not enough places of work in our modern world. Let`s have a look at the USSR, what do we see? Almost every student, who had graduated from the Uni has his own place of work. The country takes care about people being employed and affording their living. Of course, here wins USSR.
Let`s continue. I think that many of us feel like travelling around the world. In USSR, it was hard to go abroad for common people, the government didn`t want anyone seeing the better life of “Decaying West”. Nowadays, there are no hindrances for citizens to go to any country, which they will choose.  Of course, you won`t go anywhere without having enough money, but anyway, now people have a freedom of choice whether they want to go abroad or not. The winner is 21st century world.

Being rich today is easier because of introducing of the World Wide Web. The great example of getting a lot of money just for your charm and intelligence is YouTube bloggering. The access to the Internet has every person who lives in advanced country. Teens sitting at home and recording videos earn huge sums of money. They can afford buying expensive stuff, their own apartments helping their parents and relatives just being in age under 18 years old. It`s amazing!  Was there any chance of getting so much money in the age of 18 in USSR? I don`t think so. Again, one point goes to modern era.

I can keep telling about both the past and the present, but I am pretty tired today =)

So, I think there are more opportunities to live the better life now, than in the past. Anyway, it will make no difference us arguing about what is better, because we live now in 21st century and should do our best to achieve something TODAY! 

воскресенье, 26 февраля 2017 г.

Welcome to Ireland


Good evening, guys! I don't feel like writing about serious things…it’s time to have some fun 😋😋😋


Travelling is a great way to broaden your horizons and relax your mind and soul.What about spending a month in a country with fascinating landscapes and incredible mythology?Ancient castles, friendly people and good pubs are waiting for you!
So welcome to Ireland!




I advise you to start your journey with the Cliffs of Moher. They are located not far from Galway.They stretch for eight kilometers along the Atlantic and rise some 214 meters at their highest point.  Formed over 300 million years ago, the Cliffs of Moher have historically been a sacred site of the Celtic people.  The cliffs were a popular spot on the voyage taken by young nobles between the 16th and 18th centuries.

If you rent a boat ,you will have a chance of feeling yourself a tiny man surrounded by gigantic rock walls😉


The next stop is Giant's Causeway. You will not be able to hide your amazement at seeing 40,000 massive black basalt columns sticking out of the sea.





Let’s move to southwest Ireland.The Ring of Kerry is a more than 160 km long highway. Exploring the Ring,  don't miss an opportunity for visiting Ireland’s tallest mountain Carrantuohill, several pristine lakes, a medieval monastery and the prehistoric Staigue Fort. By the way there are many lovely places for people who are fond of fishing.


For those who are interested in the history of Titanic exists a guided tour around Cobh. You will find out about accidents connected to the Titanic and facts about the port's history. Listening about historical events sometimes is better than reading😋😸


And of course… Trinity College, Dublin
Known as one of the oldest and most famous universities in Ireland, Trinity College Dublin is located in the centre of Dublin.  It was founded by Queen Elizabeth I in 1592By the way Oscar Wilde and Jonathan Swift studied there!💙


What about visiting The Library of Trinity College? I think many of us have seen this wonderful place .The library is a paradise for bookworms. It contains 4.5 million books, including 30,000 current serials and significant collections of manuscripts, maps, and printed music. It reminds me of Hogwarts. Well, is anybody still waiting on the Hogwarts letter? Maybe it is another chance of being closer to the world of Harry Potter.


Dear philologists, the Book of Kells is on permanent exhibition!😁



Start exploring Ireland and it will be very difficult for you to stop!

The Ghost Writer

Good evening everyone!

Today I would like to post here a review of The Ghost Writer movie by Roman Polanski. This movie is in fact a political thriller starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan.

But before reading the review, answer this question – do you know who ghostwriters are? If no, then this movie will be a splendid opportunity for  finding it out! If yes, then this movie will show you how unpredictable the life of a ghostwriter may get.

Writing an autobiography isn’t an easy task, and that is why Adam Lang, a former Prime Minister of Great Britain, hires a writer to do that for him. The name of this writer will never be revealed because he is only a ghostwriter. His task is just writing an autobiography of the politician and as soon as it has been published he will remain in the shadow of the fame of the former Prime Minister.
The ghostwriter starts working on the manuscript left by his predecessor who has died under strange circumstances. In the course of time he is to reveal some explosive secrets from the politician’s past. At the same time the former Prime Minister is charged with a war crime and faces prosecution. Moreover, he is considered to be a CIA agent as he seems to have been acting in the USA interest. Torturing of terrorist suspects along with the CIA – that is what he is charged with.
“How about talking with Lang?” decides the ghostwriter, but as soon as he gets to talk to Lang, he is shot dead which leaves more questions than answers. The story reaches its dénouement right after the ghostwriter finishes working on the autobiography and it is published posthumously. In the end he realizes who is actually in charge of every Adam Lang’s action.


I highly recommend watching this movie. I know watching movies takes a lot of time, but I promise you won’t be disappointed by this one. Watching this movie is like solving enigmas together with the ghostwriter, but the end will get too unpredictable anyway.

Do you ever live in the moment?

Good evening, everyone! I didn't know what to write about and then just decided to share some thoughts with you.
  

I have heard a very interesting saying recently. "Do you ever live in the moment?"

These simple but nevertheless extremely accurate words have made me think a lot. I have asked myself whether I have ever enjoyed the moment itself without worrying about the present, about any problems or what I'm going to do in a month, a week, an hour or even a minute.

The answer really surprised me. 


We tend to be absorbed by our daily routine and very often forget that life is too short to waste every precious second. The idea of ignoring some important things that are expected from you may seem rather absurd, but ask yourself how often you do what you really want. 

We are doing our best to make success, to achieve something but in the end we are often dissatisfied with life we actually choose ourselves. We are discontent with our own choices, with our lack of courage, with chances we miss thinking that it's not that essential. 

I don't think a person should give up studying or working at once or think only about oneself. But you should agree that giving yourself little freedom might be useful. 

You don't feel like going to the party? Then don't do it. You would like to go camping? Find a way to do it. Stop waiting for appropriate opportunities as they will never come.

Life is full of difficulties we face every day. But by concentrating on negative moments you will never notice some tiny moments that make life amazing. How about seizing an opportunity right now?

There's still a chance of making life better.  




  


  

My story with gerunds

Good afternoon!

When I started to write my story, I could not choose the topic. That is why I just decided to start writing. It might look like my stream of consciousness, but I hope that you will like it :)

                              Enjoying your life means…

When you read the name of the article, did you finish the sentence? When you hear about some joy, do you get some associations at once? And if yes, do you do the things you associate joy with?

What about stopping waiting for something and starting acting? I am sure one can get anything if one does his best. The question is then whether you are ready to do your best. I must admit that reaching goals is not an easy task, but there is no use only dreaming about them. Your life is now, why not live then? I do not feel like teaching you how to do it, no, not at all. I just want you to think about yourself. What about doing something now you have always dreamt about? What prevents you from fulfilling your wishes? When I was younger I used to lie dreaming about some fascinating things I could do when I was older. And now I am, but what has it changed?

I would like you to understand, it is not up to the time to change something. It is only up to you. Do you really need any pretext for going to a theatre or trying bungee jumping? Is it not enough that you want it? Remember, there is no success without trying. Do not deprive yourself for fear of being misunderstood or judged.

You can do everything. I believe in you. 

Greatest Philanthropist of the 20th Century


The tradition of philanthropizing refers to the peoples of the ancient world, the Greeks in particular.  Both then and now it aims at strengthening the culture and contributes to its sustainable development.  Every time, however, it acquires a special form depending on the epoch, the area it is spreading over and many other conditions.  According to Sherri Buri McDonald (...), "Family philanthropy has uniquely American roots, dating to the early 1900s with foundations started by steel baron Andrew Carnegie and oil tycoon Nelson Rockefeller."  Nobody can be sure of the philanthropy’s being a uniquely American phenomenon, but in the 20th century the United States was the country of the growing interest in the issue of the efficient charitable donations.
            Mentioned above Nelson Rockefeller was not the first outstanding person in his family, he was a grandson of John Davison Rockefeller, the greatest philanthropist of the 20th century.  "From the time of his youth, Rockefeller’s life consisted of work, family, and the Baptist church" (...).  Disciplined and hard-working, John Davison was impossible to be accused of wasting money; his giving always had a purpose.  His views were far from what was considered vain and selfish and he remained diligent in giving to charity. Rockefeller never ceased taking advantage of the opportunities and using his power to make money for the good of mankind.  One of his greatest contributions was the establishing of a new Baptist university, nowadays known as the University of Chicago, the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research and the Rockefeller Foundation. Thus, he met Baptist educational needs in the country, formed the basis for conducting modern scientific studies and began a new epoch in the United States.
Though being born in the 19th century, John Davison was more than ever engaged into ambitious philanthropic projects in the afternoon of his life. In the early 1910s John Davison Rockefeller handed over his business to his son who was proud of carrying on the family’s philanthropic tradition. Even in the new millennium the offspring of John Rockefeller Sr. are still holding to it.


воскресенье, 19 февраля 2017 г.

Gerund

Hi everyone)

1. What if the Internet stopped for a day?

They argued that going offline even for a weekend would prevent them from completing work in other classes, ruin their social lives, and make their friends and family worry that something terrible had happened to them.- NPA

"They don’t even think about not having access to it.”- NPA

Malicious hackers could bring the internet to a standstill by releasing software that aggressively targeted vulnerabilities in routers – the devices that forward internet traffic.  _NPA

Shutting down domain name servers – the internet’s address books – would also cause massive disruption. -NPA

Cutting the deep-sea cables that carry vast volumes of internet traffic between continents would also cause significant disruptions.

Egypt did this during the Arab Spring uprising in 2011 to make it more difficult for protesters to coordinate their activity.  NPA

And American senators have proposed creating one in the US as a means to defend the country from cyberattack. NPA

Building a kill switch is not easy, however. NPA

“The internet service providers and the companies that make the routing equipment have plans and personnel in place for getting things up and running again if unexpected vulnerabilities are exploited.”NPA

Looking at quarterly financial reports from the 20 companies that claimed to be most affected in each case, as well as more general economic statistics, they discovered that the financial impact of an outage was surprisingly insignificant – at least for outages that lasted no more than four days, which is all they studied. NPA

It turned out that losing internet access for a few days just made people fall behind on their work.  NPA

Rather than twiddle their thumbs, employees did things that they would normally put off, such as dealing with paperwork.NPA

“I’ve suggested that people and businesses should have a plan in place in the event of internet loss, but I haven’t heard of anyone doing that yet,”  NPA

“So you have to realise that your reaction to the idea of losing the internet is likely to be based on your socioeconomic status,”npa

“Most people using the internet are actually more social than those who are not using the internet.” NPA

The loss of connection may make people more social in specific situations, such as forcing co-workers to speak to each other rather than sending emails, but overall the experience is likely to be distressing. npa
 ****************************************************
And could you live without the Internet at least for a day?;))))


*********************************************************************


2. Why millions of Chinese men are staying single?


By 2020, it’s estimated there will be 30 million more men than women looking for a partner npa

In 2015, a Chinese businessman in his 40s reportedly sued a Shanghai-based introductions agency for failing to find him a wife, having paid the company 7 million yuan ($1m) to conduct an extensive search. npa

Part of the problem is that the old – and new – ways of meeting people are not always working. npa


Online dating is growing fast in China, as elsewhere, and messaging apps such as WeChat are increasingly popular ways of getting to know people. npa

Hiring a girlfriend can cost up to 10,000 yuan ($1,450) a day  npa

And to avoid prying questions from inquisitive parents, some are even resorting to hiring “fake” girlfriends to present to their parents using apps such as Hire Me Plz. . npa

“If men want to get married, the future mother-in-law will request that he first buys a house before discussing the next step.  npa

But this financial burden on men is also making it harder for many women to find a partner.npa

“So they pressure their child to find a partner, go dating and to prepare for a wedding”. npa

“Parents face big social criticism if their daughter or son does not get married so normally a girl’s parents are eager to let their daughter go on a blind date and get married before reaching 30.” npa


 The shift in how people meet and how men woo partners, is, above all, putting a greater emphasis on love rather than on practical considerations such as financial security.npa

***************************************************************

Travelling 55,000 miles for dessert


When Pichet Ong left the frenetic life of New York restaurants in 2009, he never imagined a career spent making dessert could take shape on the road.

The job comes with intense back-to-back travel, building intricate spreadsheets to keep pace and last-minute prep for restaurant launches that goes way beyond dessert. npa

Between consulting projects, he fills gaps while home in New York by styling food for magazines or cookbooks and catching up with friends, some of whom still work in the city’s kitchens. npa


Clients across regions often have the same concerns, such as using alternative flours, healthy dessert options and how their flavours can translate to a global audience. npa

Ong packs many ingredients that he has trouble finding in opposite corners of the globe npa

For instance, when working in Dubai, he sweetens his sticky toffee pudding with dates and brown sugar but omits alcohol.npa



Gerunds in Real Life :)


Good evening! Sometimes it was hard to deal with gerunds...anyway enjoy the articles! :))

Ireland Will Become First Country To Stop Funding Fossil Fuels Entirely

1.This principle of ethical financing... NPA
2.First country to stop funding fossil fuels... NPA 
3.  ...the bill will stop the fund from letting Irish public money fill... NPA
4. Irish environmental organizations have praised the act and Ireland’s bravery for being the first government... NPA

When Cigarettes Were For Kids

1.Men are frequently injured by smoking  NPA
2. ... with machine-assisted production contributing, in fact, to soaring tobacco consumption nationwide. NPA
3. ... free to experiment with smoking NPA
4. ...the immediate health risks of cigarette smoking... NPA
5. Even after legislation regulated child labor following the Great Depression — taking kids out of the workplace and bringing them nearer to the watchful eyes of their guardians  NPA
6. as long as the anti-smoking coalition ceased its ads NPA
7. Smoking rates among adults and children have steadily declined... NPA


1. ...inspiration from J.K Rowling's literary series by setting up a novel sports...NPA
2. ...a magical sport played on flying broomsticks in the book... NPA
3. I actually first started playing because I lost a bet with somebody who was on the team, and resisted turning up for a year," NPA
4. Aside from the obvious lack of flying NPA
5. responsible for chasing the 'golden snitch NPA
6.I hate going to the gym or running for the sake of it. NPA
7. It's not just the game - a huge part of it is about meeting other teams and players. NPA


Gerunds


Hi everyone,
here are as usual some interesting articles (or not) with active moments, this time it's gerund :)

SpaceX successfully launches rocket after Saturday setback


1. Witnesses said the rocket was only briefly visible before making its way into the clouds. NPA
2. The rocket successfully landed on the ground nine minutes after taking off. NPA
3.Last month SpaceX resumed flights by launching a Falcon 9 vehicle... NPA
4. The company also has a long queue of customers all waiting for a ride to orbit NPA


1. You may not recognise her, but she is very quickly climbing the Hollywood ladder, having directed films such as Whale Rider (2002) and the soon-to-be released The Zookeeper's Wife. PA
2. Worrying that he would never survive the hardship of war, she disguises herself and joins in his place. NPA
3. petition calling on Disney not to "whitewash" the film by casting white actors has attracted more than 111,000 signatures. NPA
4. ...movies which have been criticised for hiring an actor... NPA
5. Could Niki Caro's appointment as the director of Mulan be a small step towards seeing more women behind the camera? NPA


1. The skin can reach high heat without burning. NPA
2. Scientists have found that you can double the size of the final popped kernel by using a vacuum pump... NPA
3. It is certainly possible to pop popcorn without any machinery – holding an ear of corn over a fire will do the trick... NPA
4. It turns out you can pop many seeds with hard shells, including rice, wheat, barley, and amaranth. NPA
Hi girls! There are some amazing articles with gerunds from Vlados.

1. Lower Back Ache? Be Active and Wait It Out, New Guidelines Say https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/health/lower-back-pain-surgery-guidelines.html?contentCollection=weekendreads&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=c-column-middle-span-region&region=c-column-middle-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-middle-span-region

1.  In making the new recommendations for the treatment of most people with lower back pain, the group is bucking what many doctors do and changing its previous guidelines, which called for medication as first-line therapy.( making – gerund NPA; bucking – gerund NPA; changing – gerund NPA)
2. The recommendations come as the United States is struggling with an epidemic of opioid addiction…
(struggling – gerund NPA).
3. In recent years, a number of states have enacted measures aimed at curbing prescription painkillers.( curbing – gerund NPA).
4. The new guidelines said that doctors should avoid prescribing opioid painkillers for relief of back pain…(prescribing – gerund NPA).
5. She ended up getting anti-inflammatory medication and doing physical therapy. A few months later, her back stopped hurting. (getting – gerund NPA; hurting – gerund NPA).
6. Many people with chronic back pain tend to shut down, avoiding their usual activities, afraid of making things worse… (avoiding – gerund NPA; making – gerund NPA).
7. Helping them is not a matter of prescribing drugs but rather teaching them to set goals and work toward returning to an active life, even if they still have pain.( helping – gerund as the subject NPA; prescribing – gerund as the subject NPA; returning – gerund as the subject NPA).

2. California, Parched for 5 Years, Is Now Battered by Waterhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/18/us/california-storms.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
By THOMAS FULLERFEB. 18, 2017

1. The frequent winter storms are taking a toll on other parts of the state’s infrastructure, with landslides closing a number of roads. (taking – gerund NPA).
2. In a sign of the abundance of water, Southern California is no longer drawing from the Colorado River… (drawing – gerund NPA).
3. On Friday, as the storm was pushing through Southern California, the snowpack in the Sierra over all was 174 percent of normal… (pushing – gerund NPA)

3. Legacy of Rio Olympics So Far 

Is Series of Unkept Promiseshttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/sports/olympics/rio-stadiums-summer-games.html?contentCollection=weekendreads&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=c-column-middle-span-region&region=c-column-middle-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-middle-span-region

1.  Rio, however, is experiencing something exceptional: Less than six months after the Summer Games ended, the host city’s Olympic legacy is decaying rapidly.( experiencing – gerund NPA; decaying – gerund NPA).

2.  The arena that hosted taekwondo and fencing was to be transformed into a school. ( fencing – gerund as the subject NPA).
3. The decay of Olympic sites is happening as a financial crisis engulfs federal, state and municipal governments. ( happening – gerund NPA).
4.  “Spending is prohibited… ( spending – gerund as the subject NPA).
5.  … “the path to implementing a legacy has been given.”( implementing – gerund as the subject NPA).
6.  … to bid on administering the Olympic Park, but there were no bidders. ( administrating – gerund as the subject NPA).
7.  … the company is in the process of striking a deal with Rio’s city government to sell them to civil servants. ( striking – gerund NPA)

суббота, 18 февраля 2017 г.

Articles with gerunds

Good evening!

I tried to see the difference between gerund and participle 1. That is why I do not have many examples. I hope that you will like my articles anyway :)


TU CAN PLAY THAT GAME
Borussia Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel searching for consistency as his side head to Benfica
  1. after setting a new group-stage – NPA
  2. ahead of taking on Benfica – NPA
  3. with 18-year-old Dzenis Burnic making his German league debut – NPA
  4. could also start after coming off the bench at the weekend – NPA
  5. after struggling for both form and fitness  – NPA
  1. Jaguar spotting in the Brazilian jungle – NPA
  2. The prospect of seeing these gorgeous felines – NPA
  3. Arcana Mundi guarantees at least one jaguar sighting – NPA
  4. if there is no sighting – NPA
  5. we have 16 sightings of jaguars – NPA
  6. banned hunting – NPA
  7. delighted in posing for our cameras – NPA
  1. three similar drugs after lobbying from the US – NPA
  2. Even touching carfentanyl posed a danger – NPA
Hello everyone, who is reading this message right now. I think it would be cool for us(humanities) to read some news about modern technology. Enjoy ^_^



1.     '...in the United Arab Emirates, may soon climb aboard automated flying taxis, soaring over busy streets and past the desert city’s  ...' - gerundial phrase, nominal element expresses by a noun in the common case. 
2.     '...Passenger drones, capable of carrying a single rider and a small suitcase...' - NPA 
3.     '...the director general of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority, said on Monday, adding that the emirate would “spare no effort to launch” ...' - NPA 
4.     '...which depicts a man boarding the vessel, buckling into a race car-style harness and tapping his destination on a touch screen before taking off....' - gerundial phrase, nominal elemet expressed by a noun in the common case, NPA 
5.     '...began a trial program last year using automated cars produced by France’s Easymile....' - NPA 

1.     'But activists say inspecting a digital device is far more intrusive than inspecting a suitcase.' - NPA 
2.     '...agents should be able to go rifling through that trove of private data...' - 
3.     'You may end up losing your device, since agents could...' - NPA 
4.     '...unlocking the phone would allow officers to sift through private Facebook posts...' - NPA 
5.     'Some activists fear gaining access to social media accounts will become a greater focus for border agents. ' - NPA 
6.     '...a very small step for them to start doing that to Americans, as well...'- NPA 
7.     '...suggested that people buy “burner phones” that they can discard before entering the airport.' - NPA 
8.     'Ms. Cope said people should power down their devices before getting to the airport' - NPA
9. '...technical aspects of keeping your data safe...' - NPA as attribute
10. 'They just started attacking me verbally' - NPA 
11. 'After allowing the Homeland Security officer to examine his phone...' - NPA 


Pet Projects of the New Billionaires

1.     '...a waitress walking by stopped to peer at the cover.' - NPA

2.     '...but he doesn’t actually end up mining the asteroids and...' - NPA
3.     'At times while reading the book...' - NPA 
4.     '...have all tried to take hoi polloi on a written tour of that peculiar area south of San Francisco, whisking them around like Midwesterners in a celebrity-tour van in Beverly Hills.' - NPA
5.     '...is debating dropping out of college...' - NPA 
6.     '...dream of disrupting archetypal norms....' - NPA 
7.     '...the ending by pointing out that it doesn’t end well for Burnham...' - NPA
8.     '...between graciously beautiful and being almost too explicative...' - NPA 
9. '...talking about these strange men and women ...' - NPA
10. 'Changing the world...' - NPA
11. 'I found myself getting frustrated was with Wolfe’s decision' - gerundial phrase, nominal element expresses by a  pronoun in objective case. 
12. 'writing as if she is documenting history' - 
13. '...with the goal of reinventing the area... ' - NPA 
14. '...by pointing out that it doesn’t end well...' - NPA 
15. '...by bringing you along on her journey...' - NPA 
16. '...One evening while partying...' - NPA 
17. '...panic attack just thinking of working in a place like that...' - NPA 
18. '...lunatics who are intent on making a dent in the universe...' - NPA 
19. '...I was left wondering how many more dents our universe can take...' - NPA