提起博物馆，您大脑里会出现什么样的景象? When you think of museums, what kind of images come to your mind?
恐龙化石、还是出土文物？Dinosaur fossils, or unearthed artifacts?
博物馆的画面基本上都是灰色的，安静地令人肃穆。The museum's images are mostly gray and quietly solemn.
湖北省博物馆却有些新奇的创意：每天都有几场音乐会在这里上演。The Hubei Provincial Museum has something new: several concerts are staged there every day.


新鲜事儿（Anecdote）

博物馆里的音乐

The aim of this episode is to help language learners stay motivated and on track in their journey to achieve their goals. 

English Listening Practice

The Language Learner's Journey: Staying Motivated and On Track

Let's practice Japanese pronunciation with 日本語初歩. You can get it with the following link. Today's lesson is Chapter 5, P40/428.

はつおんの練習🗣Pronunciation Practice!!

Let's practice Japanese pronunciation with 日本語初歩 Chapter 5 (数)

Ciao a tutti!!! La scorsa domenica si è svolto a Roma dopo due anni di assenza il famoso JLPT, l'esame di competenza linguistica giapponese. In questo episodio vi racconto un po' com'è andata. Buon ascolto!

The Italian Miscellaneous Podcast🖐 

JLPT Japanese Languange Proficiency Test

こんにちは。今回は新しい日本の映画、『PLAN 75』（プランななじゅうご）についてお話します。

この映画は近未来（きんみらい）、現在（げんざい）より少し先の未来を描いたSF（エスエフ＝Science Fiction）映画です。75歳（さい）になった人は生きるか、それとも死ぬかを選べるようになった、未来の日本を描いた（えがいた）お話です。

現在の高齢化社会（こうれいかしゃかい）の日本を風刺（ふうし）した映画で、早川千絵（はやかわ　ちえ）という女性映画監督が作りました。

彼女はこの映画で、第75回カンヌ国際映画祭（カンヌこくさいえいがさい＝Le Festival de Cannes 2022, 75e）の「ある視点」（あるしてん＝Un Certain Regard）部門（ぶもん）で、カメラ・ドールの特別表彰（とくべつひょうしょう）を受賞（じゅしょう）します。

日本では昔（むかし）とても貧しい（まずしい）村（むら）で、働く（はたらく）ことができない老人（ろうじん）を山（やま）に捨てる（すてる）、「姥捨て山（うばすてやま）」という伝説（でんせつ）が、あちこちに残っています。あちらこちらに残っている、という言い方もできます。

本当（ほんとう）に昔、こんな事があったのか、事実（じじつ）ではなく物語（ものがたり）なのか判りません（わかりません）。また他人（たにん）に迷惑（めいわく）をかけてはいけないと考える人が多い、日本人の性格（せいかく）を反映（はんえい）した物語かもしれません。

しかし欧米（おうべい＝アメリカやヨーロッパ）の人には、とてもショッキング（shocking）な題材（だいざい）だったのでしょう。「姥捨て山」伝説を映画化した、1983年の日本映画『楢山節考』（ならやまぶしこう＝The Ballad of Narayama）は、カンヌ国際映画祭でパルム・ドール（Palme d'Or）を受賞しています。

現在、日本では安楽死（あんらくし）・尊厳死（そんげんし）は合法化（ごうほうか）されておらず、認め（みとめ）られていません。「姥捨て山」伝説がある国なのに、と不思議（ふしぎ）に思う海外（かいがい）の人もいるでしょう。

映画や伝説など文化（ぶんか）、歴史（れきし）や法律（ほうりつ）などを通じて（つうじて）、日本人の考え方や習慣（しゅうかん）や制度（せいど）について、あなたの国との違いを話してみませんか。あなたが興味（きょうみ）を持つテーマで、ぜひお話ししましょう。それでは、さようなら。

Ken先生の映画・歴史・カルチャートーク

【第4回】新しい日本のSF風刺映画、『PLAN 75』（プランななじゅうご）についてお話します。

In Kashmir, old-fashioned carpet-making is getting a high-tech upgrade, mixing ancient skills with new technology to make beautiful carpets faster than ever.

Lisa's Podcast

Modernising Kashmir's Carpets: Tradition Meets Tech

New York is known for its yellow taxis. They're everywhere: pushing through the busy streets like bees.

They are a symbol of the city and there are more than 13,500 of them buzzing around the "Big Apple."

That's a lot of taxis. But there are some other things buzzing around the city and they aren't always quite so easy to see — millionaires.

The city of yellow taxis is also the city of millionaires, and according to a new report there are about 26 times more millionaires in New York than there are taxis!

The 2024 World's Wealthiest Cities report, by investment company Henley and Partners, says New York has almost 350,000 millionaires.

That number grew by 48% between 2013 and 2023, and there are also 60 billionaires in the city.

But like so many wealthy cities, the gap between the rich and the poor in New York is big, and it's getting bigger.

According to 2023 data, the top 20% of earners in the city make almost six times as much as the bottom 20% of earners.

New York is also the world's second most expensive city to live in.

There are 11 US cities in the top 50 wealthiest cities in the world.

The Bay Area, which includes San Francisco and California's tech area of Silicon Valley is second in the list. More than 300,000 millionaires live there, along with 68 billionaires.

Tokyo is third with 298,000 millionaires, although the Japanese capital has seen a small decrease in the number of millionaires over the last 10 years.

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

The Big Golden Apple: The World's Richest City

If you’ve listened to my previous podcasts, you’ll know that want to score a band score 7 in your IELTS Speaking exam, you have to use some less common idiomatic expressions.

We all know the idiom ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’ because this is a common idiom. But what are some less common idioms?

This podcast will give you 3 more idioms for you to learn, which you can use in your IELTS Speaking exam.

Preparing for exams can be a double-edged sword. This is because examiners don’t want you to memorise and repeat your answers from memory. However, using idioms can get you a higher band score. So how do we balance this? Idioms have to be memorised, because they have to be spoken exactly. We cannot change them. For example, you cannot say ‘my parents punched the roof’, you have to say my parents ‘hit the roof.’

Another tip for using idioms is not to put all your eggs in one basket. Make sure you are armed with a variety of different idioms in your memory bank. If you only know one idiom, for example ‘think outside the box’ you have to hope your part 2 speaking exam is a suitable topic for the idiom.

You can, of course, use idioms in parts  1 and 3, but part 2 is the easiest place to slot in a few idioms, because you have 1 minute to prepare.

Don’t forget to book a lesson with me, so you can practise using idioms, and get the band score you are aiming for.


IELTS Speaking Practice

3 more idioms for IELTS

【北海道Hokkaido生活】
〈#162〉2月17日金曜日　天気/くもり　気温/-2℃ 

札幌市/さっぽろし
・警察学校で救助訓練があった。
・真冬の札幌で大地震が起きて、雪崩や建物が壊れた想定
・雪の中の車を探して、その中にいる人形を助けた


［単語］
救助/きゅうじょ…助ける。困ってる人、死にそうな人をその場所から出す。
訓練/くんれん…練習
真冬/まふゆ…冬の一番寒い時
大地震/だいじしん…大きなじしん
雪崩/なだれ…山の上から下へ、雪が落ちること
想定/そうてい…考えてみること



レッスン待ってます♪
