Literature
All of us can read. While reading we not only learn new information but also we learn language! So... read the following texts and pay attention to word usage, punctuation, style, etc.
The articles here are selected with the purpose to let you know of some celebrities, like Elvis Presley, Albert Einstein , Shakira , Jennifer Lopez, and to get you acquainted with some works of famous writers, like Edgar Allan Poe, James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Jack London and others.
As authors of the articles and writers are English native speakers, you can easily use all what you find useful in the texts in your everyday speech and writing.
Elvis Presley
"The King is dead! Long live the King!"
Elvis Presley was the first real rock and roll star. A white southerner who singing blues laced with country and country tinged with gospel, Presley brought together music from both sides of the color line. Presley performed this music made him a teen idol and a role model for generations of cool rebels. Presley was repeatedly dismissed as vulgar, incompetent and a bad influence. However the force of his music and image signaled to the mainstream culture it was time for a change.
Elvis Aaron Presley was born in Tupelo, on Jan. 8, 1935 - his twin brother, Jesse Garon, died at birth - Elvis Presley was 18 when he walked into a Memphis studio and paid $4 to record "My Happiness" and "That’s When Your Heartaches Begin" as a present for his mother.
Raised in a religious atmosphere, Presley had begun his singing career by performing hymns and gospel tunes with his parents, Vernon and Gladys, at concerts and state fairs. His parents bought him his first guitar at age 11, and he remained close to them even after getting a rebellious image - his feelings for his mother, who died at age 46 of a heart attack were known to be especially strong. Sam Phillips, owner of the studio, intrigued by the rough, soulful quality of the young truck driver’s voice, invited him back to practice with some local musicians. A few months later Phillips’ Sam Records released Presley’s version of the blues tune "That’s All Right," backed by the country song "Blue Moon of Kentucky," and the singer’s career was launched.
The mix of black blues and white country music made Presley a unique artist from the start and Memphis was quick to appreciate that. Presley’s recording went to the top of the local charts almost immediately, eventually selling 20,000 copies, and Presley was invited to appear on the Louisiana Hayride country show and at the Grand Ole Opry.
At the Opry, however, the first of the many controversies that were to engulf Presley almost caused him to give up his career. Told by the talent booker there that he was no good, Presley broke into tears and left his performing costume in a filling station.
He recovered quickly, though, and went on to record a whole string of hits for Sun Records, which sold his contract for $40,000 - then a record - to RCA in 1955. His first record for RCA was "Heartbreak Hotel," which early in 1956 made him a nationwide sensation. Six months after the record "Heartbreak Hotel" had rippled through teenage America, Ed Sullivan promised to bring "The King" into the nation’s living rooms: for $50,000 Sullivan signed Presley to three performances. A month after the first Sullivan appearance, 20th Century Fox was readying Elvis’ first film for Thanksgiving release. Originally titled "The Reno Brothers," it was changed to "Love Me Tender" to capitalize on the song Presley had introduced on the Sullivan show. The studio made 575 prints of the film for its first run -- the largest in Fox’s history.
A year later, Presley was drafted into the U.S. Army. Boarding a troop ship for an 18-month tour of duty in Europe as a Jeep driver, he told a reporter: "The first place I want go is Paris and look up Brigitte Bardot."
During his period of military service, Presley made no public appearances and completed only one recording session. All of the five singles released during Presley’s absence from the U.S. rock ‘
’ roll scene, eventually became million sellers.
Presley returned from the Army to find that rock ‘
’ roll tastes had changed dramatically in his absence. Presley himself underwent a drastic change of style, sideburns and hip-shaking music in favor of romantic, dramatic ballads, such as "It’s Now or Never" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"
These records proved to be as popular as his hard-rocking numbers, but Presley by this time was more interested in making movies than anything else. After an appearance on a Frank Sinatra TV special Presley retired from concerts and television for nearly a decade. But in 1968, Col. Parker engineered a change of direction, and Elvis who had seemed too many to be old fashioned after the emergence of the Beatles in 1964, once again became the hottest thing in pop music.
On May 1, 1967, Presley had married Priscilla Beaulieu, the daughter of a U.S. Army colonel. On Feb. 1, 1968, a daughter, Lisa Marie, was born to the couple. The marriage ended, after lengthy and expensive divorce proceedings, in October 1973.
Presley never married again, but it was reported that he was about to marry 20-year-old Ginger Alden. She was spotted wearing a $50,000 diamond engagement ring from Presley.
In 1976 Presley canceled several performances in Louisiana and returned to Memphis for what his physicians said was exhaustion. And in Baltimore, he cut short a show and disappeared form the stage for several minutes, only to return claiming he had merely been answering "the call of nature." But after hearing of Presley’s death, Baltimore fan Beverly Hochstedt, who sat patiently outside the Baltimore Civic Center for 40 hours when tickets for his show there last March first went on sale, recalled not the erratic show, but the man.
Two European radio stations suspended regular programming as soon as Presley’s death was announced. Radio Luxembourg, the continent’s most widely listened-to pop station, canceled all its commercials to play Presley’s music nonstop.
The White House said that President Carter would "probably issue a statement on Presley."
He starred in 33 successful films, made history with his television appearances and specials, and knew great fame through his many, often record-breaking, live concert performances on tour and in Las Vegas. Globally, he has sold over one billion records, more than any other artist. His American sales have earned him gold, platinum or multi-platinum awards for 150 different albums and singles, far more than any other artist. Among his many awards were 14 Grammy nominations (3 wins) from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, which he received at age 36, and his being named One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation for 1970 by the United States Jaycees.
His talent, good looks, sensuality, charisma, and good humor endeared him to millions, as did the humility and human kindness he demonstrated throughout his life. Known the world over by his first name, he is regarded as one of the most important figures of twentieth century popular culture. Elvis died at his Memphis home, Graceland, on August 16, 1977. August 17, 1977 Shelby County Medical Examiner Dr. Jerry Francisco said an autopsy indicated Presley died of "cardiac arrhythmia," which he described as a "severely irregular heartbeat" and "just another name for a form of heart attack." He said the three-hour autopsy uncovered no sign of any other diseases - though Presley had in recent years been treated at Baptist Memorial Hospital for hypertension, pneumonia - and there was no sign of any drug abuse…
WORDS
rebellious ìÿòåæíûé; íåïîêîðíûé
to engulf ïîãëîùàòü, îõâàòûâàòü
to tipple âñêîëûõíóòü
drastic ðåçêèé; ðàäèêàëüíûé
erratic ýêñöåíòðè÷íûé; îðèãèíàëüíûé
to suspended ïðèîñòàíàâëèâàòü; ïðåêðàùàòü
to endear âíóøèòü ëþáîâü
autopsy âñêðûòèå
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Date of posting : 3.03.2006
Complexity: Medium
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was a major scholar of the English language, specialising in Old and Middle English. Twice Professor of...
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Date of posting: 3.03.2006
Complexity: Medium
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