Hercules and the Waggoner

A Waggoner was once driving a heavy load along a very muddy way.

At last he came to a part of the road where the wheels sank half-way into the mire, and the more the horses pulled, the deeper sank the wheels.

So the Waggoner threw down his whip, and knelt down and prayed to Hercules the Strong.

"O Hercules, help me in this my hour of distress," quoth he.

But Hercules appeared to him, and said:

"Tut, man, don't sprawl there. Get up and put your shoulder to the wheel."

The gods help them that help themselves.

waggoner: carruajero
load: carga
muddy: embarrado
sank: se hundieron
mire: ciénaga
the more the horses pulled: cuanto más empujaban los caballos
the deeper sank: más se hundían
whip: látigo
knelt down: se arrodilló
prayed: rezó
distress: angustia
quoth he: dijo (en inglés antiguo)
tut: no
sprawl: repachingarse

Aesop's Fables: The Eagle and the Arrow

An Eagle was soaring through the air when suddenly it heard the whizz of an Arrow, and felt itself wounded to death.

Slowly it fluttered down to the earth, with its life-blood pouring out of it.

Looking down upon the Arrow with which it had been pierced, it found that the shaft of the Arrow had been feathered with one of its own plumes.

"Alas!" it cried, as it died,

"We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction."

eagle: águila
whizz: zumbido
arrow: flecha
wounded: herido
flutter: revolotear
life-blood: sangre vital
pour: manar
pierce: atravesar, perforar
shaft: ástil
feathered: adornado con plumas
means: medios

Aesop's Fables: Belling the Cat

Long ago, the mice had a general council to consider what measures they could take to outwit their common enemy, the Cat.

Some said this, and some said that; but at last a young mouse got up and said he had a proposal to make, which he thought would meet the case.

"You will all agree," said he, "that our chief danger consists in the sly and treacherousmanner in which the enemy approaches us. Now, if we could receive some signal of her approach, we could easily escape from her. I venture, therefore, to propose that a small bell be procured, and attached by a ribbon round the neck of the Cat. By this means we should always know when she was about, and could easily retire while she was in the neighbourhood."

This proposal met with general applause, until an old mouse got up and said: "That is all very well, but who is to bell the Cat?"

The mice looked at one another and nobody spoke. Then the old mouse said:

"It is easy to propose impossible remedies."

mice: ratones, plural de mouse
council: consejo
outwit: ser más listo que, burlar
got up: se levantó
agree: estar de acuerdo
chief danger: peligro principal
sly: astuto
treacherous: traidor
venture: aventurar, expresar
procure: conseguir
attach: sujetar
ribbon: lazo
neighbourhood: barrio
bell: colocar la campana

The Nurse and the Wolf

"Be quiet now," said an old Nurse to a child sitting on her lap. "If you make that noise again I will throw you to the Wolf."

Now it chanced that a Wolf was passing close under the window as this was said.

So he crouched down by the side of the house and waited.

"I am in good luck to-day," thought he. "It is sure to cry soon, and a daintier morsel I haven't had for many a long day."

So he waited, and he waited, and he waited, till at last the child began to cry, and the Wolf came forward before the window, and looked up to the Nurse, wagging his tail.

But all the Nurse did was to shut down the window and call for help, and the dogs of the house came rushing out.

"Ah," said the Wolf as he galloped away,

"Enemies promises were made to be broken."

lap: regazo
it chanced: por casualidad
crouch down: agacharse
dainty: exquisito
morsel: trocito
come forward: acercarse
wagging his tail: moviendo la cola
shut down: cerrar
rush: precipitarse
gallop away: irse galopando

English Short Stories - Cuentos en inglés

Aesop's Fables: The Wolf and the Lamb

Once upon a time a Wolf was lapping at a spring on a hillside, when, looking up, what should he see but a Lamb just beginning to drink a little lower down.

"There's my supper," thought he, "if only I can find some excuse to seize it."

Then he called out to the Lamb, "How dare you muddle the water from which I am drinking?"

"Nay, master, nay," said Lambikin; "if the water be muddy up there, I cannot be the cause of it, for it runs down from you to me."

"Well, then," said the Wolf, "why did you call me bad names this time last year?"

"That cannot be," said the Lamb; "I am only six months old."

"I don't care," snarled the Wolf; "if it was not you it was your father;" and with that he rushed upon the poor little Lamb and ate her all up. But before she died she gasped out:

"Any excuse will serve a tyrant."

lapping: bebiendo a lengüetazos
seize: agarrar
muddle: ensuciar
nay: no (en inglés antiguo)
snarled: gruñó

Ejercicios...

Inglés: Ejercicios online gratis 
tema: Pronombres de objeto (Object pronouns) 3 

Elige la respuesta correcta: 

1. I came with my friends. I came with ________.
  him
  them

2. I talked with my teacher. I talked with ________.
  them
  him

3. They gave a lot of presents to me and my brother. They gave a lot of presents to ________.
  us
  them

4. I wanted to talk to my aunt. I wanted to talk to ________.
  her
  me

5. I wanted to talk to her, but she didn't want to talk to ________ .
  her
  me

6. You wanted to talk to him, but he didn't want to talk to ________.
  you
  him

7. Tell John to call me. Tell ________ to call me.
  them
  him

8. He is still in love with his ex-girlfriend. He is still in love with ________.
  him
  her

9. Where did you put the book? Where did you put ________?
  her
  it

10. I met your cousins last month. I met ________ last month.
  them
  us

What are object pronouns?

What are object pronouns?

An object pronoun, also called objective pronoun, functions as the object of a verb or preposition, as distinguished from a subject or subjective pronoun, which is the subject of a verb.
Examples:

• He begged her to live with him. (her is the object of the verb begged and him is the object of the preposition with)
• She told them the truth. (them is the object of the verb told)

Object pronouns are used instead of object nouns, usually because we already know what the object is.

• She's my friend. I really enjoy being with her.
• I like this film. I saw it last week.

Object Pronouns

Object pronouns in English are the following:

me, you, him, her, it, us, them

Object pronouns come after either a verb (e.g "like") or a preposition (e.g "to").
Examples:

• I like you but you don't like me.
• Do you really hate her?
• She loves sitting next to him.
• She always writes e-mails to us.
• He's talking to her about it.

Like

de English Grammar Today

Like has a number of meanings and uses.

 

Like as a verb meaning ‘enjoy’

We use like to talk about things or people which we enjoy or feel positive about:

like + noun phrase

I like Sarah but I don’t like her brother much.

Do you like pasta?

She really likes the singing of Luciano Pavarotti.

like + -ing

I like swimming before breakfast.

He likes telling jokes.

like + to-infinitive

She likes to go and see her parents at the weekend.

I don’t like to cycle in the dark.

He likes his friends to call him Hank.

Do you think she would like us to bring some chocolates or flowers?

like + wh-clause

I don’t like what he did.

We liked how they cooked the fish.

See also:

• Hate, like, love and prefer

 

Would like in offers and requests

We use would like or ’d like to offer something to someone in a polite way or to ask them to do something politely (requests), or politely to say what we want. We use the to-infinitive form of verbs that follow:

Would you like another coffee?

Would you like to watch a DVD?

[At a fast food restaurant]

A:

How can I help you?

B:

I’d like a cheese burger and fries please.

[In an email to a company that has advertised a job]

… I’d like to enquire about the Sales Manager position which you have advertised …

Would you like to follow me, please? (Please follow me)

See also:

• Would like
• Offers
• Requests

 

Like as a preposition meaning ‘similar to’

Like means ‘similar to’. We often use it with verbs of the senses such as look, sound, feel, taste, seem:

My sister is like my mother. (My sister and my mother are similar)

I think this tastes like coconut.

That looks like Marco’s car.

He seems like a nice man.

When we use like to mean ‘similar to’, we can put words and phrase such as a bit, just, very, so and more before it to talk about the degree of similarity:

It’s a bit like skiing but there’s no snow.

Isn’t that just like the bike we bought you for your birthday?

That smells very like garlic.

The car was more like a green than a blue colour.

 

Like as a conjunction

In informal contexts, we can use like as a conjunction instead of as. Traditional grammar books consider this use of like incorrect:

Like any good cook book will tell you, don’t let the milk boil. (or As any good cook book …)

See also:

• As or like?
• As if and as though
• Conjunctions

 

Like as a suffix

We can use like as a suffix at the end of a noun to mean ‘similar to’:

There is something child-like about Marianne. She always seems so innocent.

 

Like in spoken English

In informal speaking, you will hear like used very commonly. It has a number of functions. It is important not to use these forms in formal writing such as academic essays.

Filler

We can use like to fill in the silence when we need time to think about what to say next or how to rephrase what we have just said:

I want to … like … I think we need to think carefully about it. It’s … like … it’s a very difficult decision for us to make.

Focusing attention

We can use like to bring attention to what we are going to say next. We do this especially when talking about quantities and times:

There were like five hundred guests at the wedding. (like brings focus to the large number of guests)

It wasn’t till like 12:00 that I actually got to start on the project. (like brings focus to how late it was)

Asking for an example (Like what?)

In speaking, we often use like what? to ask for an example:

A:

Some really funny things happened on the last day of school.

B:

Funny things? Like what?

It can also be used to ask a question, meaning ‘similar to what?’:

[talking about a new restaurant]

A:

There was kangaroo steak on the menu. I decided to try it.

B:

Really?

A:

Yeah. It actually tasted good.

B:

Like what?

A:

I don’t know. Like steak but softer.

Ejercicios..

Elige la forma correcta del presente simple afirmativo del verbo to have.

1 She ____ a new computer.

has

have

2 My house ____ four rooms.

has

have

3 I ____ short black curly hair.

has

have

4 I ____ a difficult exam tomorrow.

have

has

5 All my neighbours ____ wifi access.

have

has

6 He ____ a new girlfriend.

has

have

7 They ____ enough money for the concert.

have

has

8 My old brother ____ a big poster in his bedroom.

has

have

9 We ____ fresh oranges in the fridge.

has

have

10 I ____ a nice black horse.

have

has

Have

from English Grammar Today

 

Have: forms

Have is an irregular verb. Its three forms are have, had, had. The present simple third person singular is has:

We usually have breakfast at about eight.

I had a strange dream last night.

She has quite dark hair.

 

Have: uses

We use have as a main verb and an auxiliary verb.

See also:

• Have as a main verb
• Have as an auxiliary verb

 

Have: typical error

• We don’t use have in the third person singular of the present simple:

A meeting has been set up for Monday, 4pm.

Not: A meeting have been …

 

Have as a main verb

The main verb have has lots of uses.

Possession

We use have to talk about things that we own or possess:

Do you have a car?

They have two dogs, Scruffy and Milly.

See also:

• Have got and have

Events, actions, experiences and activities

I’m going to have a bath.

Let’s have a party to celebrate your birthday!

We have a break at 10 am.

Did you have a nice time in London?

Eating food and meals

We had a wonderful meal in the new restaurant on Elm Street.

A:

Two coffees, please.

B:

Large or small?

A:

Er large. You want a large one, do you?

C:

Mhm. Can I have a cake as well?

Shall we have lunch together sometime?

Days or parts of days

Have a nice day!

I had such a tough day.

Did you have a nice morning (or afternoon, evening, birthday, holiday)?

Hygiene routines and therapies

I had a shower and got ready to go out.

He needs to have a shave both in the morning and in the evening.

The doctor recommended that I should have massages every week on my back.

Conversations and interactions

I need to have a chat with Joan about your hours.

They had a big argument about money.

The chef and the manager had a row in the kitchen and everyone in the restaurant could hear them shouting.

Sleeping

She had a rest in the afternoon.

Did you have a good night’s sleep?

I used to have terrible dreams when I was young.

Accidents and problems with cars

She had an accident when she was young. She fell off a horse.

They had a crash but luckily no one was injured.

We had a breakdown on the motorway once.

Thankfully, I have never had a puncture.

Travel

They have a 15-hour flight from Rome.

Have a safe trip.

Did you have a pleasant journey?

Other common expressions with have

have a baby	have a think
have a try	have a problem
have a go	have a feeling/sense
have an operation	have a clue/idea
have a long wait	have a laugh (informal, a good time)
have a shock	have a surprise