English space from Free-English-Course@yahoogroups.com

Another Management Lesson

A wealthy old lady decides to go on a photo safari in Africa, taking her faithful aged poodle named Cuddles, along for the company.

One day the poodle starts chasing butterflies and before long, Cuddles discovers that she's lost. Wandering about, she notices a leopard heading rapidly in her direction with the intention of having lunch.

The old poodle thinks, "Oh, oh! I'm in deep doo-doo now!" Noticing some bones on the ground close by, she immediately settles down to chew on the bones with her back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the old poodle exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here"

Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees. "Whew!", says the leopard, "That was close! That old poodle nearly had me!"

Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So off he goes, but the old poodle sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up. The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard.

The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!"

Now, the old poodle sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, "What am I going to do now", but instead of running, the dog sits down with her back to her attackers, pretending she hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old poodle says:
"Where's that damn monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!"

Moral of this story:
Don't mess with old farts...age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill!
Bullshit and brilliance only come with age and experience!

 

English space from Free-English-Course@yahoogroups.com

A Smart Driver

A driver is pulled over by a policeman. The police man approaches the driver's door.
"Is there a problem Officer?"
The policeman says, "Sir, you were speeding. Can I see your licence please?"
The driver responds, "I'd give it to you but I don't have one."
"You don't have one?"
The man responds, "I lost it four times for drink driving."
The policeman is shocked. "I see. Can I see your vehicle registration papers please?"
"I'm sorry, I can't do that."
The policeman says, "Why not?"
"I stole this car."
The officer says, "Stole it?"
The man says, "Yes, and I killed the owner."
At this point the officer is getting irate. "You what!?"
"She's in the boot if you want to see."
The Officer looks at the man and slowly backs away to his car and calls for back up. Within minutes, five police cars show up, surrounding the car. A senior officer slowly approaches the car, clasping his half drawn gun.
The senior officer says "Sir, could you step out of your vehicle please!"
The man steps out of his vehicle. "Is there a problem sir?"
"One of my officers told me that you have stolen this car and murdered the owner."
"Murdered the owner?"
The officer responds, "Yes, could you please open the boot of your car please?"
The man opens the boot, revealing nothing but an empty boot.
The officer says, "Is this your car sir?"
The man says "Yes," and hands over the registration papers.
The officer, understandably, is quite stunned. "One of my officers claims that you do not have a driving licence."
The man digs in his pocket revealing a wallet and hands it to the officer. The officer opens the wallet and examines the licence. He looks quite puzzled. "Thank you sir, one of my officers told me you didn't have a licence, stole this car, and murdered the owner."
The man replies, "I bet you, that the lying bas***d told you, I was speeding, too!"

English space from Free-English-Course@yahoogroups.com

Although, eventhough, dsb merupakan adverbial clause of contrast yang artinya menunjukkan adanya pertentangan antara dua kejadian atau peristiwa yang saling berhubungan.

Sebenarnya banyak sekali macam conjuction yang memiliki arti contrast (bertentangan). Hal ini antara lain dibagi sebagai berikut:

1. Contrast yang bersifat Concessive
   

• Although
  
• Though
  
• Even Though
  
• Even If
  
• Conceded That
  
• Admitted that
  
• Despite the fact that
  
• In Spite of the fact that
  
• Regardless of the fact that
  
• Notwithstanding the fact that
  

Semua Kata-kata itu memiliki arti kata meskipun dan walaupun..

1. Contrast yang bersifat Adversative
   

• Whereas
  
• While
  
• As the Time
  

Perbedaan antara keduanya yaitu kalau contrast yang bersifat concessive itu membandingkan dua kejadian yang masih ada hubungannya. Sementara kalau contrast yang bersifat adversative itu membandingkan dua kejadian yang benar-benar bertentangan. Lebih jelasnya lihat berikut:

1. Although it is late, we"ll stay a little longer

(meskipun terlambat kita akan tinggal sedikit lama lagi)

Dua kejadian yang masih ada hubungannya. Hal ini bersifat Consessive.
2. Farida want to stop, whereas I wanted to go

(Farida ingin berhenti, sedangkan saya ingin terus)

Dua kejadian yang benar-benar menunjukkan pertentangan. Hal ini bersifat Adversative

English space from Free-English-Course@yahoogroups.com

The Axe Story

Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter asked for a job with a timber merchant, and he got it. The salary was really good and so were the work conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best.

His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work.

The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees

"Congratulations," the boss said. "Go on that way!"

Very motivated by the bossʼ words, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but could bring 15 trees only. The third day he tried even harder, but could bring 10 trees only. Day after day he was bringing less and less trees.

"I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on.

"When was the last time you sharpened your axe?" the boss asked.

"Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees..."


Moral of the story:
Working hard is not enough; one has to keep on sharpening oneʼs skills.