Taken from Headway's Intermediate Student's Book: The Farmer And His Sons There was once an old, dying farmer who had worked hard in his vineyard all his life. Before he died he wanted to teach his three sons how to be good farmers. So he called them to his bedside and said, 'My boys, I have an important secret to tell you: there is a great treasure buried in the vineyard. Promise me that you will look for it when I am dead.' The sons gave their promise and as soon as their father had died they began looking for the treasure. They worked very hard in the hot sun and while they were working they thought about what their father had said. They pictured boxes of cold coins, diamond necklaces, and other such things. Soon they had dug up every inch of the vineyard but they found not a single penny. They were very upset because they felt that all their hard work had been for nothing. However, a few months later the grapes started to appear on the vines. Their grapes ...
The Unifying Metaphor: As opposed to a simile which compares two objects using a specific linguistic form, eg. the man was as brave as a lion, a metaphor compares two objects by equating the one with the other, eg. he was a brave lion. Literally the man was not a lion, but figuratively he was. This figure of speech is used in literary works of all kinds, including poems and news articles. The Unifying Metaphor aims to unify people. An example of an American metaphor is the Camel man. He is healthy, strong and tanned, and he can survive in the wild bushveld with merely a pocketknife and a piece of string. He drives a 4x4, and he works hard all day. This is the image of the Camel man – please correct me if I’m wrong. The logic and truth behind this image may elude us, but what unifies us is what Elgin (1980: p. 227) calls the consensus perception . As a unity, we have reached consensus about the perception of the Camel man. The theory reminds of the Jung’s colle...
"A soft tone is the foundation. If you don't have a soft tone, you can't sing," Jarmilla explained. Jarmilla is my new voice trainer. She lives in a big, wide-opened house in Kroondal, with an avenue of trees introducing her house. She leads me into a corner of the open-plan house where stands a grand piano, and she asks me about myself, and tells me about herself. Jarmilla is Czechoslovakian. Her husband and her now consider themselves South Africans because they have lived here over 40 years. And she wouldn't move from Kroondal. She is happy here. And so am I! I think I must have the best of luck to have this marvelous teacher just 10 minutes away from my workplace. She truly is marvelous - we start the lesson despite my 20 minute delay. I never saw the "Rex" sign so I kept driving another 8km when I should have turned right. Got there with 8 minutes to spare, but she still took me on. So grateful! You know when you are doing somethin...
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