A Document from MySkylines, Express Yourself - Issue 05

Vocation
As people make more money, often they think that now is the time to enjoy themself more. Leisure becomes more important in their lives. As their psychological horizons expand beyond just earning an income, they also want to find out more about the world. So they want to travel. One problem, however, is that they don't really know where they want to go or what they want to do when they get there. So they blindly go somewhere, just brcause they think it is fashionable to do so. Often they take some package tour that offers them "10 countries in 7 days." That way, thay collect a lot of stamps in their passports and a lot of predictable photographs, but they don't have much fun or relaxation, and they don't really know very much about where they've been. A much better approach would be to decide where they really want to go, and why, and then plan far enough in advance in order to accomplish those goals. That way the vacation in both more enjoyable and more affordable. 

--> psychological horizons = limites of consciousness or attitude.
--> blindly = without duidance or relevant information.
--> package = a plan or an offer made up of several items, each of which must be accepted.
--> affordable = not expensive.

Comprehension
1. Why has travel become more popular?
2. What mistake do people sometimes make?
3. What should they do to make the most of their vacation?

Express Yourself
1. How much paid vacation do you get each year?
2. Where do you most want to go?
3. In the summer, which place do you prefer-the mountains or the sea?
4. What do you think about visiting the seaside in winter?
5. Which do you think is the best season for a vacation?
6. For your vacation trip, will you drive or use public transportation such as trains or buses?
7. Would you say "yes" if your boss asked you to sacrifice your vacation? "Work comes first," doesn't it?
8. Name the countries you want to visit.
9. Are you willing to lose vacation time for better pay?
10. Describe your usual weekend.

--> make the most of = use to greatest advantage.

Opinion Samples
1. It seems to me that most people I know only think about taking a vacation in the summer. But that's a terrible season, since everyone else is rushing to all the same spots at the same time. So instead of a relaxing vacation, they spend their time stuck in traffic or on an overcrowded beach; service is stretched to the limit, and prices are inflated. So they go back home more tired than when they began, glad their time in hell is over and looking forward to going back to work! So I take my sabbatical in the winter. Even the seashore is very pleasant then, although it is too cold to swim or get a tan, because it is very quite. I can calmly reflect on my life, take my time doing what I really enjoy, and charge my batteries back up. So when I return to my job I'm able to work more effectively.
2. The ideal vacation for me is to make a trip alone. I think vacations should be a chance to reflect on myself and think about what I am doing and what I should do with my life. Only traveling alone makes this possible.
--> service is stretched to the limit = the ability to provide accommodation has reached the maximum capacity.
--> sabbatical = a year of release from normal teaching duties granted to a professor for research; a period of leave from one's work.
--> change one's batteries back up = reset or release in order to get back his or her energy.

Useful Expressions
1. My vacations are easy to plan - my boss tells me when, and my wife tells me where.
2. Most people could live with their income if they were as economical all year round as they are right after their vacations.
3. Nothing makes time pass faster than vacation and short-term loan.
4. Vacation is a system whereby people who are merely tired become exhausted.
5. Vacations are a little like love affairs - anticipated with relish, experienced with inconvenience, and remembered with nostalgia.
6. Summer vacations get kids tanned, mothers in pink, and fathers in red.
7. Don't tell the tired-looking person he needs a vacation - the chances are he just had one.
8. One of the common disruptions of marital bliss is the choice of where to spend a vacation. What this country needs is an ocean in the mountains.
9. You are getting old when you're on vacation and your energy runs out before your money does.
10. A vacation makes you feel good enough to return to work - and so poor you have to.
--> relish = great enjoyment; pleasure;zest
--> nostalgia = a desire for past; homesickness
--> in the pink = feeling fit
--> in the red = in debt

A Document from MySkylines, Express Yourself - Issue 04

Sleep
It is commonly believed that everybody should get at least eight hours of sleep a day. But a lot of people get by on less, thinking that sleeping is just a waste of thire time. Event some experts claim that it is the quality of sleep that counts rather than the quantity, and that we could live healthy lives with only three or four hours of good sleep. To them , "good sleep" is characterized by REM (Rapid-Eye Movement). It is during this phase of sleep that we dream.

Dream and their interpretation are other interesting phenomena associated with sleeping. Throughout history,seers have tried to use them as a guid to the future. Today, psychologists are apt to see them as the acting out of anxieties and fantasies we cannot express during our wakign hours. For Sigmund Freud, they were symbolic expressions of our sexual desires.
--> seers = a person who can force or foretell events.
--> acting out = performing , behaving as though in a real situation but not actually doing the action..
--> get by = I can't get by on such a small income.

Comprehension
1. How many hours of sleep do we need every day?
2. When do we dream?
3. What purposes do dreams serve in human culture?

Express Yourself
1. How many hours do you sleep?
2. Do you feel okay with three or four hours' sleep?
3. If your spouse were snoring, what would you do?
4. Do you need a alarm clock to get up in the morning?
5. Do you like to sleep in a bed or on the floor?
6. Do you think your dreams  have any significant to tell you?
7. How often, and when, do you dream?
8. Do you try to interpret what your dream means?
9. Do you believe that you would be lucky if you saw a pig in your dream? If so, would you buy a lottery ticket?
10. Do you enjoy a nap during the day time?
11. Do you think sleep helps relieve your stress?
12. Do you think it's okay to work at night?

Opinion Samples
1. Whenever I have a dream I try to interpret it in a Freudian manners. Most of my dreams relate to my everyday life, so understanding them helps me know more about myself. Since Freud was a pioneering genius in the field of psychology, any interpretation based on his ideal must be accurate.
2. Three or four hours' sleep! Doing that might save time, but I don't think most people could operate very effectively that way. I have try to get by with less sleep, many times, but I always felt tired and irritable, and would have to take a nap at work just to get me through the day. So now I make it a rule to get at least six hours of sleep, no matter what, and most nights I get seven or eight. So these days I feel refreshed and energetic, and I get a lot more done.

--> in a Freudian manners = by Sigmund Freud's doctrines.
--> pionnering = being the earliest in a field or study, activity,etc.
--> make it a rule = always try.
Useful Expressions
1. When the alarm clock rings, the best part of the day is over.
2. If you want your dream to come true, don't oversleep.
3. Do you realize how many mistakes you'd make if you didn't sleep away a third of your day?
4. The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night's sleep.
5. If you sleep in a chair you have nothing to lose, but a nap at the wheel is often a permanent snooze.
6. Most of us spend a lifetime going to sleep when we're not sleepy, and getting up when we are.
7. If you want your life to listen to what you say, talk in your sleep.
8. A real surprise is when the college voy comes home and discovers people sleep at night rather than in the daytime.
9. It's extremely difficult for a babysitter to wake up five or ten minutes before the parents return home.
10. Boasting  and sleeping are the forerunners of failure.
--> snooze = a light nap.
--> forerunner = a person or thing that comes or goes before as in time.