É contigo mesmo...

Bom, vou começar uma série de postagens com expressões úteis do inglês. Expressões essas que irão te ajudar a pensar mais em inglês quando estiver redigindo um artigo ou até mesmo falando em inglês. Para começar, ensino para vocês  a expressão: "É contigo mesmo, é por sua conta, só depende de você". Em inglês usamos a expressão "To be up to you".

e.g.

I'll buy the meat for the barbecue, but the soda is up to you!

If you want to get a new car, you can! It's up to you!!

Agora deixe uma frase abaixo utilizando a nova expressão para praticar um pouco! Lembre-se: Só se aprende praticando!!! Não quer deixar a frase??? well, it's up to you!!

Marcio Barbosa

Why was the Voting Rights Act of 1965 necessary when the 15th Amendment had already given blacks voting rights?

The 15th Amendment was passed, granting African American men the right to vote, on this date in 1870. With discrimination still largely unchecked, violence against blacks at voting polls was rampant. Literacy tests, poll taxes and other voter qualification laws became common. It took nearly a century and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for the amendment's intention to be achieved throughout the US. Black women in America attained the right to vote along with the rest of America's adult female population in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment. But, they, too, had to wait till 1965 to actually exercise that right.
 
Now write your opinion about this short article you've just read!

Think through...

Think through é um phrasal verb, ou seja, um verbo + uma preposição que juntos formam um novo verbo! Isso é muito usado pelos nativos em conversas e textos em inglês! Essa é uma diferença muito grande quando conversamos com nativos! Muitas vezes não conseguimos entender certas coisas, isso porque nos acostumamos ao inglês tradicional e muitas vezes formal! O que dificulta a comunicação! Por causa disso, vamos aprimorar nosso inglês cada vês mais!

Think through quer dizer: "pensar bem, refletir sobre uma decisão"



e.g. The plan will fall through* if you don't think it through properly.



* Fall through é um outro phrasal verb, será o tema de nosso próximo tópico!

Tudo que é bom dura pouco!!!

Realmente, tudo que é bom dura pouco, quando você pensa que não, acabou!!!!! Me lembro de minha viagem que fiz à Europa em 2009.

Foi M-A-R-A-V-I-L-H-O-S-A!!!!

Aí, chegou a hora de voltarmos ao Brasil, que peninha!!! E como sempre dizemos a famosa frase "Tudo que é bom dura pouco!" Hoje você vai aprender a dizer isso em inglês!!!

"All good things must come to an end". (Tudo que é bom dura pouco).

Agora para exercitar, deixe uma frase usando a expressão que você aprendeu hoje!! Lembre-se que tudo consegue-se com muita prática e o inglês não fica fora dessa! Então get your hands dirty!! Já aprendemos essa na postagem passada!!

e.g. I went to Europe last year and as all good things must come to an end, the trip flew away!!!

Written by Chris Cotter

Black Friday refers to the day just after Thanksgiving in the US. Because so many companies have a four day weekend, many people begin their Christmas shopping on this day. (Thanksgiving always falls on a Thursday in the US, and then people have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off from work.) Black Friday is often reported as one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Shopping malls are packed with people, parking lots are crowded, and lines at stores are very, very long. Some stores even open at five or six in the morning because there are so many people. Other stores have discounts and sales to draw even more customers.

The word "black" to describe the Friday likely began in Philadelphia in the mid-1960s. Traffic jams filled the roads into the downtown area every year. The stores and sidewalks were overflowing with shoppers. The experience for so many of the people who ventured downtown was stressful and chaotic. It was a terrible, or black, day. Because other cities around the country similarly experienced traffic jams, busy stores, and too many shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving, the term spread. Black Friday became a common idiom in American English.

Although many people may see the day after Thanksgiving negatively, retailers have a very different opinion. It's their best opportunity to improve earnings for the year, and take the business out of the red (loss) and into the black (profit). For example, if sales were slow in the spring, summer, and fall, then the store must attract many customers and make many sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The first and most important day of this last chance shopping season is Black Friday.

Of course, there are some people who dislike Black Friday. There are some people who hate the day and its crowds very much. But there are also some people who strongly oppose the shopping day because they believe it harms society. They think that people should consume less and reuse resources more, and so have created a day called "Buy Nothing Day." It falls on the same day as Black Friday, and it encourages people to buy nothing, of course.

However, for most people, Black Friday just presents one more opportunity to go shopping. For those who don't like shopping, then it's one more reason to avoid the stores and shopping malls.

Mãos à Obra!!!!

Estamos de volta com mais uma dica do MBS English pra você!!! Bom, você sabe como se diz "Mãos à obra" em inglês?

Usamos a seguinte expressão: "Get your hands dirty!" Ao pé da letra significa: Suje suas mãos! Mas, como equivalente em português temos o famoso "mãos à obra". Agora, que você já sabe usar essa mais nova expressão que acaba de aprender em nossa primeira postagem em 2010! Então, Get your hands dirty!!!  Deixe uma frase usando a expressão! Saiba que elas são muito úteis quando aprendemos um idioma novo!!!

e.g.  A: Oh man, I gotta clean my room today!

        B: So, get your hands dirty!!

Teacher Márcio Barbosa

New Year's Resolution!!!

Hi there my dear readers!!

What's your New Year's resolution? Well, mine is a little big list because there are a lot of things I wanna do this year! And there are things I don't know whether or not I'll be able to.

For example, I'd like to visit other countries this year! I'd like to be back to Paris, oh my Paris how I loved that place!!, I'd also like to learn French! What about you? What are your New Year's resolutons? Write them down and practice your writing right here with us!!