Pronunciation

This task was quite difficult for me, mainly because my most serious problem is the pronunciation. I practiced the words many times before I had started the recording, but I ended up recording this task five times and then finally I was almost satisfied. I say almost because I still know that I don't sound like a native speaker, but I really tried to do my best. I'm still in the process of getting used to my own voice, and I hope it'd be more bearable soon. I think that this recording was really helpful :-)

Introduction

This is the first recording and I really hope that the last recording I publish here would sound much better than this one. I'm aware of my pronunciation problems that I try to make better. I made a resolution to concentrate on the sounds much more than I ever did before and I want to finally improve my pronunciation and sound more natural. Introducing myself wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be. I had to record it twice, because the first time I started speaking and then I suddenly stopped and didn't know how to continue. But the second time I had an idea in my mind and it was a bit better, even though I have a problem to actually listen to myself. But the beginnings are always the most difficult...

what if there were no Google...

Can you imagine how your life would be without Google? I Google, therefore I am. In our technological world Google is our best friend, always. We don’t spend hours and hours in a library searching for some information, we are too lazy. That’s why our friend Google is here to provide us whatever we need. Try to imagine your day and think for how many times you searched for something on Google. It's hard to say exactly how the world would look without Google, the world's most frequently visited Web site. Google is a big company, employing around 30,000 people as of this writing. It also tries to share the wealth; in 2010, Google's charitable giving topped $184 million.

Google offers a whole suite of applications (too many to list here), and a lot of them are free. You can use Gmail for e-mail, Docs for sharing all sorts of documents, Maps for navigation, Earth for geographic information, Calendar, Blogger to set up a blog for both personal and professional purposes, etc. Google simply offers a lot of ways to accomplish a lot of different tasks, for not a lot of money. When Google first appeared in 1998, search engines were a matter of personal preference. Some people opted for the visually busy layout of Yahoo or others. But then Google arrived, with its supercharged algorithms that returned more relevant results, and suddenly, it was the fastest and easiest way to find Web-based data. Older search sites located relevant information by finding keywords on Web pages. The company was following through on its stated mission, which is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," and to be an engine that "understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want." Google became a part of our life, that is for sure. And I would be positive about it, because it has so many advantages as I listed. It makes our life easier in some way, and sometimes it can be fun to try to search for funny phrases.

Heart Beach

Welcome to our Heart Beach. The Heart Beach is a long sand beach with clean waters on the island‘s northeast coast. The beach was named Heart Beach because of a very simple reason - its shape brings to mind a real shape of heart. The beach is accessible by car, ship or on foot from the centre of the town (10 minutes). You can enjoy here different water sports, or you can just relax on the most comfortable wooden sun beds that belong to the Paradise Bar. The bar is made only from wood, so it creates an indescribably cosy feeling. People of every age are welcomed, the bar offers not only alcoholic beverages, but also non-alcoholic, refreshments, and sandwiches. If you buy something at the bar, the sun beds are for free. Otherwise it is 2 Euro/day. When visiting Heart Beach make sure to add a walk by the river up to the famous waterfalls. The walk, about 2 km, will take you through a lovely forest and eventually ends at a small lake where you can take a swim and enjoy the pure nature. You can finish your amazing day in a restaurant that is situated near the waterfalls on a rock. The most beautiful and breathtaking view is only from this restaurant. You have the opportunity to taste local meal and enjoy it together with a glass of local wine and sunset that reflects in the sea. We wish you a gorgeous vacation full of unforgettable moments!

magical place

In my life I have travelled to many beautiful places. Most of them are a blur in my mind, but one place I have never forgotten. My favourite waterfalls that are situated on a Greek island. It’s a hot day, outside it feels like in a sauna. I wear only light clothes and flip-flops. You feel sweat even when you wear only a swimsuit, and maybe that’s exactly the reason why I love to escape to a cooler place. A very tiny path leads me to the forest that is completely green. It looks like a wild jungle, every plant, tree, or animal has its own freedom. The air seems to be refreshing exactly as an ice-cream in a very hot day. I breathe and enjoy the feeling inside my body. The trees imitate a sunshade, so you can imagine how it is for me to be hidden from the sun for a while. Some roots of the trees work as steps or bridges over a small river. Everything here is created by nature, no human touched anything. I listen to the birds singing and soon I come to the waterfall. The sound of the water falling down from the rock is fascinating. I sit down in the grass and I just listen to the power of water, I can smell how pure the water is. It absolutely clears my mind and I feel more powerful, like I was running and the adrenaline is running through my veins. I like the image in my mind that we can’t stop the water, it always finds a way to go, and it’s the same with our life, it just goes on…

The impact of technology on our life

Nowadays we’re able to communicate with people through mobile phones and we can see each other through a small screen on smart phones even if we’re thousands of kilometres away.  On the contrary, it’s not always an advantage. Everyone can see on our Facebook profile how many friends we have in our friends list. But how many real and true friends do we have? Moreover, we publicly say where exactly we’re and what we’re doing. But most of the time we don’t see the consequences it can have. Not all the people use modern technology for a good reason. There are paedophiles, stalkers and a lot of strangers that can become very dangerous because of the data we share on the Internet. 

Our lives are full of smart phones, tablets, laptops, etc., we’re connected to the whole world, we can transfer ourselves to exotic places, play poker, watch live streaming concert and mainly we can chat with more than just one friend at the same time. But if you look behind the screen, you see a lonely person sitting at home without any friends and concerts, only surrounded by his/her “technological kingdom”. On the other hand, we don’t know how to communicate with people face-to-face, we aren’t used to react without thinking of the proper answer, and mostly we don’t enjoy anything around us when we don’t watch it through a screen.

In conclusion, social media networks help us to connect with other people, learn new things, see interesting places, and make us feel like we belong in a community that shares our opinions and believes. Nevertheless, we should have some real friends to talk to face-to-face; we should enjoy doing some sport or any activity (e. g. cooking, fishing, participation in public affairs), because the Internet will never replace the real friends and life. Don’t let technology overtake your life!

22 emotions are written on our faces

I must admit that I was never interested in this topic. Actually, who cares about the number of emotions that we can show on our face? But after reading this article, I find it quite surprising. To be honest, I didn't know that scientists believed that we can express only six basic emotions. I'm not a scientist and I'd claim that we can express more than only six. I believe that it'd be amazing to know more about our personalities or illness from our face. Then all the killers, schizophrenics, perverts, etc. would go to prison or madhouse before they'd be actually able to commit a crime. What a nice idea of the perfect world! Back to the topic, in my opinion some people are able to express more emotions than others. Someone's face looks like it's made of stone, nothing changes when the person is happy, angry or sad. All the time the same motionless face. On the other hand, when I imagine for example Jim Carrey performing some funny faces, I know for sure that no one else can do it. The scientists should probably focus on Jim and we'll be surprised what they discover. Do you think that we should express all our feelings, or is it sometimes better to pretend that nothing happened?