1. Learning a New Language.

A few years ago I met a lovely girl from Hungary: we fell in love, and got married. We decided to live in Hungary, so I had to learn Hungarian as quickly as possible. I started learning the basics of the language in England at a local Evening school with native speakers, but there was only one lesson a week for two years, which was not enough. So when we finally moved to Budapest, I could only speak basic Hungarian.

I began to work in Hungary as soon as I arrived, for a company that made television sets. I'm an engineer by profession. A funny accident happened to me on my first day at work, when the woman in the personnel department asked me to sit down and I couldn't understand her!

I was given a job in the technology department where I had a colleague, who could speak German. As I speak a little German, we were able to communicate. At first there was not really much for me to do there. So I just talked to my colleagues, and with the help of a Hungarian-English dictionary used the time to develop my Hungarian.

After six months one of the colleagues left, and I had to take his job, which included making telephone calls, writing letters and visiting people in other towns. Speaking Hungarian all the time was difficult for me, but it was the best way to learn it.

Of course, I made a lot of mistakes, but my colleagues helped me. After a few years of working for the company I became fluent in Hungarian, and now I can translate from Hungarian into English, and use the language in my everyday life.

I rarely speak Hungarian with my wife, as she speaks English well, but most of our friends are Hungarian, so I use it a lot with them. Sometimes I see plays and films in Hungarian, and I can understand most of what is said. I still make mistakes, however. I often try to translate directly from English.

Learning a new language can be slow and frustrating sometimes, but it's very rewarding.

Words and expressions:

Hungary — Венгрия

Personnel Department — отдел кадров

colleague — коллега

Questions:

1. Why did the story-teller have to learn Hungarian?

2. How long did it take the story-teller to become fluent in the language?

3. What can you say about your own way of learning English?

4. How can you improve your English?

2. A Farewell to Dieting!

I'm sure you know a person who is on a diet, I hope it's not one of your friends. I'm saying this because there was a time when I was a real fan of dieting. I don't know why but diets arc very popular among some people.

I was at college at the time, and it all started after a visit to a friend of mine. Her name is Jane. We went to the same class, and we used to visit each other quite a lot. That time I was staying at her place for the weekend.

We went to the nearest fast-food restaurant. But do you know what happened when I ordered a burger with French fries? She said 'Look! I don't want to spoil your enjoyment. You can eat as much fattening junk food as you want, but you should know it's the way to an early grave'. So I threw my meal into a bin and ordered what my schoolmate recommended — some salad and a glass of drinking water.

This started a new 'dieting period' in my life. I walked around with calorie charts, counting the calories at every meal. I stopped eating fat. But it wasn't enough for me. I began exhausting myself with different exercises. I spend hours sweating in saunas. I weighed myself every morning and every night. I was simply obsessed with all that stuff. I behaved like a lunatic.

Anyway, it all turned out quite sad. I ended up in hospital with anorexia. My mom and dad were very scared when they came to see me.

From that time on I became my real self. I lived a normal life. I ate what I wanted and when I wanted. I threw away all my calorie charts, stopped gazing at myself in the mirrors and gave away my scales. And do you know what? I became a really happy person again.

Words and expressions:

to spoil enjoyment — испортить удовольствие.

grave — могила.

to exhaust — изнурять.

to sweat — потеть.

to gaze — пристально смотреть.

scales — весы.

Questions:

1. Have you ever met a person on a diet?

2. What happened with a story-teller at a restaurant?

3. How can you describe a new period in the story-teller's life?

4. What was the result of this period?

5. Why did the story-teller become a happy person again?