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My family |
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My family
The
This is my family: my wife, my son, my daughter and I. I am Mr. Black. My wife is Mrs. Black. I am Mrs. Black’s husband. I am a man. My wife is a woman.
We have two children, a boys and a girl. The boy’s name is John. He’s twelve years old. The girl’s name is Mary. She’s still quite young. She’s only eight. She’s four years younger than John, and John is four years older than she is. Mary is the youngest in the family and I am the oldest.
John is Mary’s brother. Mary is John's sister. John is my son. I am his father. My wife is his mother, Mary is my daughter. I am her father. My wife is her mother. John and Mary are our children. I am their father; my wife is their mother; we are their parents. We love our children.
My wife is sitting in an armchair, reading a book. I am standing by the window, smoking a pipe. Mary is writing a letter. John is kneeling on the floor and playing with his train. The dog and the cat are lying under the table.
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PRACTICE TESTS |
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| Crazy diamond
ANSWER SHEETS
I am drying my eyes. I always cry when I watch this movie. Every time. And always in the same places. It’s a very unsentimental film too, so what is it that always tugs at my heart? The movie I’m referring to is “Shall We Dance” starring Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, made in 2004 and first released on the art circuit. It also stars Jennifer Lopez, but don’t let that fact make you stop reading this. At the heart of this film is pure, honest human emotions, failings and fears. Richard Gere plays a (gorgeous) middle aged man who commutes home every night on the train in Chicago. On his way home he notices a dance studio and spots Jennifer’s character, Paulina. The hapless group of would-be ballroom dancers are wonderfully – sometimes tragically – entertaining. But each somehow mirrors a facet of myself, and probably everybody else too. Nobody is perfect in this film. Gere doesn’t end up a champion dancer. But the ending is more beautiful, more moving than you would ever expect. And the dancing represents that repressed passion and fire that is within all of us.
Gere’s character hides his nocturnal cha-cha classes from his wife, played by Susan Sarandon, who then hires a private detective to find out if he’s having an affair. After finding out what he’s been up to, she doesn’t understand why he would keep it a secret from her. In a memorable scene the PI asks her why people should get married? She replies: “We need a witness to our lives. There’s a billion people on the planet… I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you’re promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things… all of it, all of the time, every day. You’re saying ‘Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness…”
So why do I love this film so much? Is it that scene where Richard Gere emerges on the escalator dressed in a tuxedo, holding a red rose? Or is it the way that his voice falters and trembles when he says to his wife: “The one thing I am proudest of in my whole life, is that you’re happy with me. If I couldn’t tell you that I was unhappy sometimes, it’s because I didn’t want to risk hurting the one person I treasure most.” Or maybe it’s when he tells his wife that he was ashamed of wanting more, when he had so much. The dance scenes make my muscles twitch and I long to be them, gliding so gracefully across the polished wooden dance floor.
It’s about going beyond the mundane repetitive things we do in life and trying something new and exciting that makes you feel alive. And it’s about Love, Friendship, and being true to yourself.
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CINNABON – Cinful Cinnamon Rolls
The aroma wafts towards you from 100 paces. It’s the unmistakable scent of baking, mingled with the rich headiness of cinnamon. I close my eyes and move blindly in the direction of the divine deliciousness. Then I see it…it’s a sign…no, really, it’s a sign that says “Cinnabon”.
I move closer, lured by the aroma-induced euphoria and existential knowledge that something heavenly awaits if I follow this path.
Inside the sacred temple of temptation I catch my first glimpse of this divine decadence and I know…I must have it. Flavours of vanilla, lemon, caramel and chocolate offer themselves to me like vivid red roses to bees. And like a cult follower, I point weakly at the one that begs me to take it.
I take out my purse and gradually everything comes back into focus. I realise that I am in a shopping centre – Canal Walk – and that this is a little store selling cinnamon rolls. My religious experience evaporates as I part with R12 and eagerly clutch my freshly baked bun. I open the wrapping as if it were a diamond necklace and inhale the beautiful cinnamon.
The first bite is utterly beyond anything I had imagined. (These things always look better than they taste, right? WRONG!) Every bite was a thing of unsullied beauty and, as I took my time and allowed my palette to revel in its treat, all was right with the world. The hot rolls are taken from the oven freshly baked, and then filled with a cream cheese frosting which melts into the swirls of the roll. A hint of lemon brings out the vanilla and cinnamon flavours. This is heaven!
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Shell we dance? |
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Shall we dance?
For longer than he can remember, John Clark (RICHARD GERE) has led a dull existence.... and even with a successful career, charming wife (SUSAN SARANDON) and loving family, he still feels something is missing as he makes his mind-numbing commute through the city each day.But one night, on his evening ride home, he looks up to see a beautiful woman (JENNIFER LOPEZ) staring through the window of a dance studio. Haunted by her gaze, John impulsively jumps off the train and signs up for dance lessons... and his whole life begins to change.Now, he's entering a world he never imagined -- the colorful world of competitive ballroom dancing. It's a place filled with grand passions, bitter rivalries, great friends and strange couples and it's about to reignite the excitement in John's life - not to mention the lives of his family, dance instructors and fellow classmates - in ways he's never dreamed.
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Movie Posters Categorized by Actor / Actress
Richard Gere
Jennifer Lopez
Susan Sarandon
Stanley Tucci
Bobby Cannavale
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MY SMILE
My smile twinkles with mischief
My smile reveals a hint of sadness
My smile is seductive
My smile makes you smile
My smile is sometimes fake
My smile is sometimes shy
My smile remembers the good times
My smile hopes for the future
My smile is a reflection of my joy
My smile is a mirror of those around me
My smile is a glimpse of my spirit
My smile is filled with infinite possibilities
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Who is this crazy diamond? Ilana is all about digging around just below the surface. She’s not interested in the elaborate masks people construct, but in peeling away the petrified layers people have so carefully put there. Only then can you reach the real being, the one that is humbly extraordinary. She used to be an observer. Now, I am a participant.
I have an office, a flat, and 2 thriving pot plants.
I also live in Cape Town, South Africa, arguably one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
http://crazydiamond.co.za/
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