Improve Your English Quickly and Easily!

Suggestions for Using the Podcasts

1 Listen to the podcast without reading the text.
2 Listen to the podcast for a second time and quickly write a few notes about what you hear.
3 Read the text with the podcast as you listen for the third time.
4 Read aloud with the podcast.
5 Try to explain what you have heard in your own words.

The Rocket

It's hockey season in Canada. As temperatures get colder, arenas fill up with hockey players and coaches and referees and parents all across the country. Hockey fans follow the wins and losses of their favourite teams like the Vancouver Canucks, the Ottawa Senators, the Edmonton Oilers, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Quebec Nordiques and the Montreal Canadiens. And every now and then a player comes along who can inspire great admiration and devotion in fans. Roch Carriere wrote a story about this feeling. It is called The Hockey Sweater. It describes his memories of playing hockey in a small village in Quebec in 1946. He remembers that the two most important events in village life were the Sunday service at the church and the Saturday nhockey game. He writes about how all of the players wanted to be like their hero, Maurice Richard. Richard was nick-named 'The Rocket' and he was one of the greatest hockey players of all time. He began playing for Montreal in 1942 and hung up his skates in 1960 after 18 seasons and 544 goals. In Roche's story all of the young boys proudly wore red, white and blue Canadien sweaters with the number 9 on the back just like the Rocket. They all wore their hair the way Richard did. They did up their skates and taped their sticks the way Richard did. One winter, Roche's mother told him that she would write to Mr. Eaton of the Eaton's cataloge company to order a new hockey sweater for him. His old sweater was too small. She didn't use the order form in the catalogue because she couldn't read English very well. You can imagine Roch's disappointment when he received a Toronto Maple Leaf's sweater instead of a Montreal Canadie's sweater. He didn't want to wear the sweater. He wanted to wear the sweater of his beloved Montreal team like all the other boys. Besides, he said, the Toronto team always lost when they played against Montreal! He cried and argued with his mother. When he wore the sweater to the rink all of the other players stared at him. Instead of getting to play at the beginning of the game, his coach made him sit on the bench. When he finally got a chance to play he rushed out onto the ice too soon. The referee game him a penalty because there were already five players on the ice. He was so angry that he smashed his stick on the ice and broke it. The priest , who had been watching the game, told him that he should go to the church and ask God to forgive him for losing his temper. So he went to the church and prayed for a hundred million moths to eat his Toronto Maple Leaf hockey sweater. It is such a charming and funny story because hockey fans today are as passionate about their teams now as they were in 1946. And hockey sweaters never go out of style. A couple of young musicians from Ontario called 'Dala' sing a song about wearing the hockey sweater of a lost love. "I'll be wearing your hockey sweater," they sing, "And you'll be waiting somewhere where it never snows."

If you would like to listen to Maurice Richard reading "The Hockey Sweater" go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD5pctWlzpk&feature=related

If you would like to watch Dala singing :Hockey Sweater" go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=CA&hl=en&v=z5mogq7St1Y

A Flat

Jenny and her brother Charlie were driving west along the highway. They were returning from a concert in Toronto. As they drove along they chatted about the concert and listened to the radio. All at once, Jenny reached over and turned the music down. "Do you hear that?" she asked her brother. They could hear a loud thudding sound from behind. "You'd better pull over," said Charlie, "It sounds like a flat tire. Jenny turned on her signal, slowed down and looked in the rear view mirror. She pulled over onto the side of the highway and turned into the empty parking lot of a restaurant which was closed for the evening. Charlie opened his door, got out of the passenger side and walked around the car looking at each of the tires. "Here it is. It's the rear tire on the driver's side. It's completely flat. We'll have to change it. You'll ruin the rim if you drive any further on this tire." As Jenny opened the trunk of her car she told Charlie that she had never changed a tire before. "Well, it's time to learn then," said Charlie. "Come on. I'll show you how to do it. Make sure that the parking brake is on so the car doesn't roll forward." Charlie got out the spare tire and Jenny reached into the trunk to get the jack, a pair of gloves, a flashlight and a tire iron. Her brother wedged a rock in front of one of the front tires as an added precaution. Then he bent down and took the wheel cover off the flat tire. As Jenny held the flashlight up he loosened the lug nuts on the rim. Then he showed her where to put the jack under the car just behind the front wheel. He cranked the jack and raised the car up. He told Jenny that he always wears gloves to change a tire because the metal can be very hot if the car has been driven for a long distance. Next he removed the lug nuts, took the flat off and set it aside. Then he put the spare tire on, put the nuts back on and turned them by hand. He said that she should always tighten them on opposite sides instead of consecutively. Then he lowered the car back down to the ground and removed the jack. He tightened the lug nuts again with the tire iron. "That's all there is to it," Charlie announced as they put everything back into the trunk, "It's not exactly brain surgery." Jenny agreed and said that she could probably change a tire now that she had watched her brother do it. As Jenny started the car and pulled out onto the highway again, Charlie said that she would have an opportunity to do it herself the following day. He reminded her that the spare tire was only a temporary tire and she'd have to replace it after she got the flat tire fixed. "You can show me what you learned tomorrow!" laughed Charlie.

Remembrance Day - November 11

To find out more about Remembrance Day go to:

http://englishdesk.blogspot.com/2008/11/episode-26-poppy.html