Jack-o-lantern

The Irish brought the tradition of the Jack O'Lantern to America. But, the original Jack O'Lantern was not a pumpkin.The Jack O'Lantern legend goes back hundreds of years in Irish History. As the story goes, Stingy Jack was a miserable, old drunk who liked to play tricks on everyone: family, friends, his mother and even the Devil himself. One day, he tricked the Devil into climbing up an apple tree. Once the Devil climbed up the apple tree, Stingy Jack hurriedly placed crosses around the trunk of the tree. The Devil was then unable to get down the tree. Stingy Jack made the Devil promise him not to take his soul when he died. Once the devil promised not to take his soul, Stingy Jack removed the crosses and let the Devil down.

Many years later, when Jack finally died, he went to the pearly gates of Heaven and was told by Saint Peter that he was too mean and too cruel, and had led a miserable and worthless life on earth. He was not allowed to enter heaven. He then went down to Hell and the Devil. The Devil kept his promise and would not allow him to enter Hell. Now Jack was scared and had nowhere to go but to wander about forever in the darkness between heaven and hell. He asked the Devil how he could leave as there was no light. The Devil tossed him an ember from the flames of Hell to help him light his way. Jack placed the ember in a hollowed out Turnip, one of his favorite foods which he always carried around with him whenever he could steal one. For that day onward, Stingy Jack roamed the earth without a resting place, lighting his way as he went with his "Jack O'Lantern".
On all Hallow's eve, the Irish hollowed out Turnips,  potatoes and beets. They placed a light in them to ward off evil spirits and keep Stingy Jack away. These were the original Jack O'Lanterns. In the 1800's a couple of waves of Irish immigrants came to America. The Irish immigrants quickly discovered that Pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve out. So they used pumpkins for Jack O'Lanterns.

 from:http://pumpkinnook.com/facts/jack.htm

SPEED DATING

The origin of speed dating

The concept of speed-dating originated in Los Angeles, California

in 1999. It was invented by a rabbi to help singles in the Jewish

community find a partner. Originally singles were given eight

minutes together, to make an impression before moving on to

the next potential partner. At the end of the rotation they wrote

down who was hot and who was not, and in the case of a good

match contact details were exchanged.

The concept was soon exported, and took off in London in 2000.

The craze soon spread all over the UK, and spawned Speed

Dating Agencies and an Internet Site for finding Mr. or Ms right.

The eight minute limit is supposedly based on science. It is the

time required for our hormones to tell us whether the person

opposite us is a potential mate. In our increasingly busy lives,

where traditional courtship rituals are disappearing this time

limit has now been further reduced to only three minutes, about

the same time it takes us to brush our teeth.

The Big Bang Theory

Leonard and Sheldon are brilliant physicists, the kind of "beautiful minds" that understand how the universe works. But none of that genius helps them interact with people, especially women. All this begins to change when a free-spirited beauty named Penny moves in next door. Sheldon, Leonard's roommate, is quite content spending his nights playing Klingon Boggle with their socially dysfunctional friends, fellow CalTech scientists Wolowitz and Koothrappali. However, Leonard sees in Penny a whole new universe of possibilities... including love.

LOL

What are you doing?
Size ratio was all wrong.
Couldn't visualize it.Needed bigger carbon atoms.
Sure, sure.
How did you get into this place?
Back door has a five-pin tumbler system,single-circuit alarm.
Child's play.
You can start sorting protons and neutrons while I build carbon atoms.
No, I don't think so.
We need to go home now.
But I'm still working.
If you don't come out of there,I'm going to have to drag you out.
You can try, but you'll never catch me.
For God's sake.Sheldon, come here!
Bazinga.

Script

Off with his head

Someone has stolen three of my tarts!
- Did You steal them?
- No, Your Majesty.
- Did You?
- No, Your Majesty.
- Did You steal them?
- No, Your Majesty.
- Did you steal my tart?
- No, Your Majesty ...
It´s cranberry juice.
- I was so hungry! I did not mean to ...
- Off with his head!

Books made into films

Bridget Jones's Diary


And here you have an excerpt from the book:
Bridget Jones's Diary excerpt

English and movies

from www.saberingles.com


Read the passages and try to understand them. Then, read the vocabulary explanation. Finally, read the passage again

DONKEY: Shrek? Well, you know what I like about you, Shrek? You got that kind of I-don't-care-what-nobody-thinks-of-me thing. I like that. I respect that, Shrek. You all right. Whoa! Look at that. Who'd want to live in a place like that?
SHREK: That would be my home.
DONKEY: Oh! And it is lovely! Just beautiful. You know you are quite a decorator. It's amazing what you've done with such a modest budget. I like that boulder. That is a nice boulder. I guess you don't entertain much, do you?
SHREK: I like my privacy.
DONKEY: You know, I do too. That's another thing we have in common. Like I hate it when you got somebody in your face. You've trying to give them a hint, and they won't leave. There's that awkward silence.

kind of
tipo de, clase de
I-don't-care-what-nobody-thinks-of-me
no me importa lo demáslos piensan demí. Esta frase está escrita con guiones porque se la utiliza como si fuera un adjetivo de "thing". En español diríamos "Tienes ese tipo de cosa de no me importa lo que los demás piensan de mí.
budget
presupuesto
boulder roca, canto rodado
to give/drop somebody a hint
lanzar una indirecta a alguien
to leave
marcharse, irse
awkward
incómodo, embarazoso

Follow the link above and keep practising.