Practice Listening

tiếp theo là bài của landth
I''m Barbara Klein. And I''m Bob Doughty with People in America in VOA special English. Today we tell about one of America?Ts best-known writers, Mark Twain. We also talk about his famous book, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".
Mark Twain wrote "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in 1884. Since then, the book has been published in at least 60 languages. Some people say it is the best book ever created by an American writer. American students still read "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". And parents, teachers and literary experts still debate the issues discussed in the book.
The writer who became Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835. He grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, on the Mississippi River. After his father died in 1847, young Samuel went to work as an assistant to a publisher. Ten years later, he became a pilot on a steamboat that sailed on the Mississippi. He heard the river boat workers called out the words "mark twain". That was the measure for the depth of water.
In 1861, the American Civil War put an end to steamboat traffic on the Mississippi. So Clemens travelled west and became a reporter for newspapers in a Nevada and California.
Later, he wrote funny stories and called himself Mark Twain. Twain became famous for his story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County " in 1865. It tells about a jumping competition among frogs.
Twain also travelled a lot and began writing books about his travels. His stories about a trip to Europe and the Middle East were published in "The Innocents Abroad". And his stories about life in the western United States became the book called "Roughing It".
In 1870, he married Olivia Langdon and moved to Harford, Connecticut. During the 1880s, he wrote books for children such as "The Prince and the Pauper". It tells about a poor boy who trades identities with a member of England''s ruling family. Twain also wrote "Life on the Mississippi". This book describes his days as a steamboat pilot and his returne to the river 20 years later.
Mark Twain was already a successful writer before he became famous as a public speaker. Over the years, he had invested a lot of money in unsuccessful businesses. In 1893, he found himself deeply in debt. So, to earn money, he travelled around the world giving humorous talks. His speeches made people laugh and remembered events they had experienced.
However, his later life was not a happy one. Two of his daughters died. His wife died in 1904 after a long sickness. Some critics think Mark Twain?Ts later works were more serious because of his sadness. He died of heart failure in 1910.
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tiếp của landth:

Mark Twain was the first writer to use the speech of common Americans in his books. He showed that simple American English could be as fine an instrument for great writing as more complex language. Through his books, he captured American experiences as no other writer had.
Many of the stories take place in Hannibal, Missouri. The small wooden house where he lived as a boy still stands there. Next to the house is a wooden fence. It is the kind described in Twain?Ts book ?oThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer? published in eighteen seventy six. In that story, Tom has been told to paint the fence. He does not want to do it. But he acts as if the job is great fun. He tricks other boys into believing this. His trick is so successful that they agree to pay him money to let them finish his work. ?oThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer? is considered one of the best books about an American boy?Ts life in the eighteen hundreds.
Tom Sawyer?Ts good friend is Huckleberry or Huck Finn. Mark Twain tells this boy?Ts story in ?oThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?. Huck is a poor child without a mother or home. His father drinks too much alcohol and beats him.
Huck?Ts situation has freed him from the restrictions of society. He explores in the woods and goes fishing. He stays out all night and does not go to school. He smokes tobacco. Huck runs away from home. He meets Jim, a black man who has escaped from slavery. They travel together on a raft made of wood down the Mississippi River. Huck describes the trip:
?oIt was lovely to live on the raft. Other places seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don?Tt. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft. Sometimes, we''d have that whole river to ourselves for the longest time. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look about up at them, and discussed about d whether they was (?) were made or only just happened. Jim, he allowed they were made, but I allowed they happened. I just judge it would have took too long to make so many?.
Mark Twain started writing ?oHuckleberry Finn? as a children?Ts story, but it soon became serious. The story tells about the social evil of slavery seen through the eyes of an innocent child. Huck?Ts ideas about people were formed by the wide white society in which he lived. So, at first, he does not question slavery. Huck knows that important people believe slavery is natural, the law of God. So, he thinks it is his duty to tell Jim?Ts owners where to find him. Here is part of the story after Huck decides he must do this:
?oI felt good and all washed clean of sin for the first time I had ever felt so in my live. And I knowed I could pray now. But I didn?Tt do it straight off, but laid the paper down and set they?Tre there thinking, thinking how good it was for all this happened so, how near I come to be in lost and gone going to the hell. And went on thinking... And I see Jim before me all the time, in the day and in the night time, sometimes moonlight, sometimes storms. And we?Tre all afloating along, talking and singing and laughing. But somehow, I couldn?Tt seem to strike no places to harden me against him, but only the other kind?.
Huck comes to understand that Jim is a good man. He finds he cannot carry out his plan to tell Jim?Ts owners where to find him. Instead, he decides to help Jim escape. He decides to do this even if God punished him. Huck?Ts moral search is part of Twain?Ts humor. Huck?Ts heart leads him to do the right thing, even when everything he has been touched taught tells him it is wrong. Huck?Ts nature is good, but he has no idea of it. Twain tells us more through Huck?Ts voice than Huck himself knows.

Hic hic !! Chị Maroon tha lỗi em nhe !! Hum bữa em tải bài Mark Twain về em nghe là bệnh luôn bữa đó đấy . Giỡn thui chứ thật ra em bệnh trc đó rùi !!
Àh mà hum nay thứ 7 rùi đó chị, cho em bài mới em nghe nha !!! Thanks chị nhìu lém !!!

Bài Mark Twain các bạn vẫn chưa post lên hết do mấy hôm nay 4rum bị trục trặc, nhưng cũng chỉ còn một đoạn ngắn nữa thôi. Hy vọng 4rum đã hết điên (ko còn báo lỗi html ), Maroon sẽ sửa hết nếu các bạn post tiếp.
Hôm nay, Maroon sẽ post 1 bài nghe ngắn thôi nhưng rất thú vị, nói về cách sử dụng các thành ngữ trong tiếng Anh, hy vọng các bạn sẽ thích.
Dog Talk: Most Dogs in the U.S. Seem to Have an Easy Life
note: bạn nào có thể tìm được nghĩa tiếng Việt tương đương cho những thành ngữ này thì post vô đây luôn nhé
Được Maroon_Opal sửa chữa / chuyển vào 20:08 ngày 12/08/2006

Thanks Marôn,
bài của Thandieu có vẻ nhiều lỗi chết người quá nhểy, điệu lày nại fải cố roài. hehe. Bài hôm nay khá hơn là chắc.
----
Now, the VOA special English program: ?oWords and the Stories?.
Most dogs in the US seem to have an easy life. They sleep a lot and get fat often. People take their dogs for a walk 2 times a day and also let them play outside. Dogs get medical care when they are ? injured. What a great life, right?
Well, we say people with a similar care free existence enjoy a ?odog?Ts life?. They have no trouble or responsibility, they can come and go as they please, sleep all day and never have to work. But not every one has it so easy, in fact some people say we live in a ?odog eat dog? road, that means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs. They say that to be successful, a person has to ?owork like a dog?. This means they have to work very, very hard. Such hard work can make people ?odog tired?, and the situation would be even worse if they became ?osick as a dog?.
Still, people say ?oevery dog has its day? this means that every person enjoys the successful period during his or her life. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do think. Some people are compared to dogs in bad ways: people who are unkind or uncaring can be described as ?omeaner than a junkyard dog?. Junkyard dogs live in places where people throw away things they do not want. Mean dogs are often used to guard the properties, they bark or attack people who try to enter the properties. However, sometimes a person appears to be mean and threatening, but it really not so bad, we say: ?ohis bark is worse than his bite?
A junkyard is not a fun place for a dog, many dogs in the US sleep in safe little houses near the owners?T homes. These dog houses provide shelters, yet they can be cold and lonely in the winter. Husbands and wives use this: ?odog house? term when they are angry at each other. For example, a women might get angry at her husband for coming home late, or forgetting the wedding anniversary. She might tell him that he is in the ?odog house?. She may not treat him nicely until he apologizes. However, her husband may decide that it is best to leave things alone and not create more problems. He might decide to let ?osleeping dog? life. Dog?Ts expressions also are used to describe the weather: the ?odog days? of summer are the hottest days of the year. A rain storm may cool the weather, but we do not want it?Ts to rain too hard, we do not it?Ts to rain cuts and dogs?.
This VOA special English program was written by James Marsh. I?Tm Faith Lab Elton

định Post nốt bài hôm trước nhờ maroon check luôn cho bõ công type mất mấy tiếng:
Nhưng không post được

Hi hi !!! Tranh thủ cái 4rum của ttvn bị ... khùng, em nghe lun cà bài MT với bài Dog luôn rồi !! Thui để em post bài Dog thôi cho "kịp thời đại" ^__^
Cũng như "mọi khi" nha chị, chỗ nào em chấm chấm là em nghe ko ra từ gì hết trơn áh , chị điền hộ em luôn nha chị Maroon (hic có mấy tên riêng em ko thấy chị cho em cũng làm biếng nghe wá, em chấm chấm luôn , chị thông cảm nha !! )
Now, the VOA Special English program ?oWords and their stories?.
Most dogs in the United States seem to have an easy life. They sleep a lot and get fat ? People take their dogs for a walk two times a day and also let them play outside. Dogs get medical care when they?Tre sick or injured. What a great life, right? Well, we say people with a similar care free existence enjoy ?oa dog?Ts life?. They have no troubles or responsibilities. They can come and go if they please, sleep all day and never have to work. But not every one has it so easy. In fact, some people say we live in a ?odog-eat-dog world?. That means many people are competing for the same things. Like ?oGood jobs?, they say that to be successful, a person has to ?owork like a dog?. This means very have to work very very hard. Such hard work can make people ?oDog tired? and the situation would be even worse if they became ?oSick as a dog?. Still, people say ?oEvery dog has its day?. This means that every person enjoys his successful period during his or her life. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do things. Some people are compared to dogs in bad ways. People who are unkind or uncaring can be described as menor and ? . jumpkia dogs live in places where people throw away things they do not want .Mean dogs are often use to garb disproperty. They bark or attack people who try to enter the property. However, sometimes a person appears to be mean and .. but it?Ts really not so bad. We say ?ohis bark is worse than his bite?. A junkia is not a fun place for dog. Many dogs in the United States sleep in safe living houses near their owner home. These dog houses provide ?. Yet, they can be cold and lonely in the winter. Husbands and wives use this dog housed home when they are angry at each other. For example, a woman might get angry at her husband for coming home late or forgetting their anniversary. She might tell him that he is ?oin the dog house?. She may not treat him nicely until he apologizes. However a husband may decide that it is best to leave things alone and not create more problems. He might decide to let ?oSleeping dog?Ts life?. Dog expressions also are used to describe weather. The ?odog day of summer? are the hottest day of the year. A rain storm may cool the weather but we do not want it to rain to hard. We do not want it to rain ?oCats and dogs?.
This VOA Special English program ?oWords and their stories? was written by .. I?Tm ?

Kiện đê: tìm mỏi tay mà chảng thấy tính từ này ở trong từ điển cả..

Kiện cáo giề? Có mà kiện củ khoai. Đây là văn của ông Mark Twain đó chứ, ai bịa ra đâu. Mà đã nói trước đây là giọng văn hồi thế kỷ 19 mà, cũng có thể từ này hiện ít dùng đến, nó dùng để chỉ nơi chốn, có nghĩa là chật chội, ngột ngạt

Bài của Thandieu:
Most dogs in the US seem to have an easy life. They sleep a lot and get fat often. People take their dogs for a walk 2 times a day and also let them play outside. Dogs get medical care when they are sick or ? injured. What a great life, right?
Well, we say people with a similar care free existence enjoy a ?odog?Ts life?. They have no trouble or responsibility, they can come and go as they please, sleep all day and never have to work. But not every one has it so easy, in fact some people say we live in a ?odog eat dog? road (world), that means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs. They say that to be successful, a person has to ?owork like a dog?. This means they have to work very, very hard. Such hard work can make people ?odog tired?, and the situation would be even worse if they became ?osick as a dog?.
Still, people say ?oevery dog has its day? this means that every person enjoys the successful period during his or her life. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do think. Some people are compared to dogs in bad ways: people who are unkind or uncaring can be described as ?omeaner than a junkyard dog?. Junkyard dogs live in places where people throw away things they do not want. Mean dogs are often used to guard the (this) properties (property), they bark or attack people who try to enter the properties(property). However, sometimes a person appears to be mean and threatening, but it (?~s) really not so bad, we say: ?ohis bark is worse than his bite?
A junkyard is not a fun place for a dog, many dogs in the US sleep in safe little houses near the owners?T homes. These dog houses provide shelters, yet they can be cold and lonely in the winter. Husbands and wives use this: ?odog house? term when they are angry at each other. For example, a women might get angry at her husband for coming home late, or forgetting the wedding anniversary. She might tell him that he is in the ?odog house?. She may not treat him nicely until he apologizes. However, her husband may decide that it is best to leave things alone and not create more problems. He might decide to let ?osleeping dog (s)? life. Dog?Ts expressions also are used to describe the weather: the ?odog days? of summer are the hottest days of the year. A rain storm may cool the weather, but we do not want it?Ts to rain too hard, we do not it?Ts to rain cuts (cats) and dogs?.
This VOA special English program was written by James Marsh. I?Tm Faith Lab Elton