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The happy years
Chapter 5… Of poor lovesick poets Sometimes they would all arrive, and Grandfather would have an enormous amount of cousins around the house. Between his uncles and aunts, his many cousins, the usual family friends and the occasional guests, he would spend many happy hours, hosting and showering everyone with attention. …
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Granddaughter for the weekend
The weekend niece. from the book, Searching for treasures How, deeply and desperately, she missed her mother, especially in moments like these, when she found herself alone with her grandparent’s lack of interest in her. She felt trapped in a situation with no possible escape. How she missed the mornings, back home when her…
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TOEFL Speaking Test Practice 1
TOEFL SPEAKING TEST TOEFL iBT® Speaking Section Academic Speaking Skills The TOEFL speaking section takes 20 minutes to complete, and it contains 6 consecutive sections. It is done on a computer. Your answers are recorded via a microphone on your headset and then sent to the Educational Testing Service (ETS) for marking. The TOEFL…
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Business English: When to omit articles (the, a, an)
When do we omit articles (the,a,an) in a sentence? Before uncountable nouns (mass nouns) Substances, concepts, etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot count milk or sugar, but we can say a spoon of sugar or a glass of milk. Examples: music, art, love, happiness advice, information, news furniture, luggage…
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Business English: Article usage grammar.
Breathe in and breathe out. Check out the photo and then explain what you see in it. Alright, that was good! Time to get busy! The usage of articles: (when we should use the, a, or an, as well as, when not to use an article) can often be confusing when learning English as…
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Doble weddings
Chapter 5… Of poor lovesick poets All in all, the house had twelve bedrooms. The rooms, which looked to the west, had huge picture windows that displayed the beach below. They also had French doors opening to balconies. Wicker chairs and tables were set up there, to relax and enjoy the fantastic view.…
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Business English: Finance
Before we jump into this, some quiet time sounds good. Check out the photo and then explain what you see in it. Alright, good fun! Now it’s back to today’s business! Let’s start filling in those gaps… 1. The global central banks want to keep interest rates at ___________________ ( = unnaturally) low levels. …
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Reading Exercise: Atitlán Lake in Guatemala
An ancient volcano’s crater “The most beautiful lake in the world” Alexander Von Humboldt The famous, world explorer considered Lake Atitlán the most beautiful lake in the world. It is positively an impressive lake, dotted with small picturesque villages on its shores. Most of the communication between its lakeside villages…
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Ines’ multicolored parasols
The weekend niece. from the book, Searching for treasures When Dora arrived, she would immediately look for Ines, knowing very well that she would be there, waiting for her, with an affectionate smile on her face and a kiss to welcome her. Dora understood that her grandmother was concerned with her paternal grandparent’s attitude…
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Business English Employment and counter offers
Employment and counter offers Counteroffer (counter offer, counter-offer) A situation in which a company or organization offers an employee more money or a better job in order, for example, to try to prevent them moving to another company or organization where they have been offered a job: When they realized that he was about to quit, they made a counter-offer, which he politely rejected. Before we jump into this, some quiet time sounds good. Check out the photo and then explain what…