Opowiadania po Angielsku
1. It goes without saying that in today's world, children spend a lot of their time in front of the TV and internet, where they are constantly bombarded by advertisements. In their naturally childish way of thinking, children might believe that having all the bright, colorful, and fun things they see on the screen in natural; they're urged to get it because they ought to have it. This might be intensified in other environments such as school, where the child may encounter friends who may already have that dreamt of something. It then probably makes no difference to the child whether their parents have money or not or whether he or she already has enough toys; the other kids have it so why can't he or she? This type of situation can lead to social problems between the children of parents who can afford everything that appears on TV and those who can't. One solution that comes to mind is to limit the number of TV ads aimed at children in general. Airing TV advertisements during children's programming should also be restricted. Children simply don't understand that ads are trying to get them to buy something and are not thinking about their well-being and are unable to "defend" themselves against the impact advertisements have. Maybe one could consider at aiming these TV commercials at parents instead. But will this in reality bring about any change? Children have always wanted anything that caught their attention and nagged their parents to buy it for them. There has always been and there always will be tension between those who have money for all kinds of unneeded things and those who don't. Maybe instead of pinning the blame for our children's self-centered behavior on marketers, we should pin it on parents, who rarely say "no" just for peace and quiet's sake. If we let advertisements run our lives then that is exactly what they will do, no matter what age. Maybe it's time to take stand for ourselves.
*** to nag - dokuczać, zrzędzić to pin the blame - zrzucić winę na kogoś to go without saying - rozumieć samo przez się bombard - zarzucać (np. pytaniami) to urge - zachęcać, namawiać encounter - napotykać, spotykać for peace and quiet's sake - dla świętego spokoju to take a stand - zajmować stanowisko/ postawę
2. Last night I had a deeply distressing dream. I was coming through a forest and I lost my way. The weather was awful. It was dark and chilly. I was shivering with cold. After three hours of wandering around, I found some old and ruinous hut. I knocked at the door but nobody opened. I pressed the handle and noticed that the door was unlocked. I entered and sat in front of the fire. Although I was a stranger I started looking for some water. When I found a small door I opened it and went into the cellar. It was very huge and damp. I heard some terrible noise similar to howling or growling. I found a torch and lighted it. I saw hundreds of cages with imprisoned animals. I came to the first cage and suddenly I thought, 'Oh, God, this beast is familiar to me'. In the next cage there was some big wolf with red eyes and sharp long teeth. His mounth was covered in blood. I knew it, too. I observed some other boxes and I was convinced I had seen those creatures before. Then I heard crying. I approached the source of the sound and I saw a girl. She had neither eyes nor ears. Her skin was burnt. She looked scary. I recollected that I knew those monsters from my nightmares. 'You will die', somebody murmured. I was so frightened that I hardly managed to turn back. I noticed an opened cage. There was a notice above it: 'The factory of nightmares. The last stage'. I started running away but a monstrous spider stoof on my way. It approached and jumped at me. Then I felt that somebody or something was shaking my body. I opened my eyes and heard: 'Calm down, it was just a dream'.
3.
Telling the truth may be a virtue, but is it not more important to know how to tell lies? After all, I am sure that everyone has experienced a situation where they knew that if they told the truth, they would find themselves in more trouble than if they told a lie to worm their way out of distress. And if you're already lying, then it should be convincing and so well constructed that the other wouldn't ever think that you were lying. Life goes about in a way that its necessary to tell lies, things aren't always done on time, promises aren't always kept, we don't want feelings to be hurt, and so on. Obviously, modern civilized society couldn't exist if everybody lied all the time. In the age of globalization and the widespread cooperation of many people, we all base our decisions and plans on what others tell us. If everyone told lies to everyone else then everything would quickly cease to function and fall apart. But at the same time, would it not be equally disastrous if everybody always told the truth? If everyone told the pure, cold truth then it would surely have a destructive social impact and people would probably want to isolate themselves from the rest of the world. In a short time, mass culture would turn into the culture of hermits and all based upon even the smallest of comments. Upon these pure truths people would either hide away or kill each other off. In the end, one might conclude that both lying and telling the truth are a part of human nature. One might also conclude that neither truth nor falsehood may exist without each other for the opposite of one defines the other, just like day and night, and it's rather nonsensical to discuss why day and night exist…unless maybe you're studying philosophy
. ***virtue - cnota to worm one's way out - wykręcić się obviously - oczywiście, wyraźnie cooperation - współpraca to cease - zaprzestać, ustać disastrous - katastrofalny hermit - pustelnik, samotnik nonsensical - nonsensowny, niedorzeczny
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