Interactive English

Once upon a time there was a pussycat called Ribby, who invited a little dog called Duchess to tea.

Once upon a time there were three little kittens, and their names were Mittens, Tom Kitten, and Moppet. They had dear little fur coats of their own; and they tumbled about the doorstep and played in the dust. But one day their mother - Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit - expected friends to tea; so she fetched the kittens indoors, to wash and dress them, before the fine company arrived.

In the time of swords and periwigs and full-skirted coats with flowered lappets - when gentlemen wore ruffles and gold laced waistcoats of paduasoy and taffeta - there lived a tailor in Gloucester. He sat in the window of a little shop in Westgate Street, cross legged on a table, from morning till dark. All day long while the light lasted he sewed and snippeted, piecing out his satin and pompadour and lutestring; stuffs had strange names and were very expensive in the days of the tailor of Gloucester.

Once upon a time there was a frog called Mr. Jeremy Fisher; he lived in a little damp house amongst the buttercups at the edge of a pond. The water was all slippy-sloppy in the larder and in the back passage. But Mr. Jeremy liked getting his feet wet; nobody ever scolded him, and he never caught a cold!

This is an interactive quiz audiobook about the popular TV show Sons of Anarchy and is in the format of questions with four possible answers, A, B, C or D, with hotlinks for each possible answer that the Kindle reader can click on - thus making it "interactive". You click on the answer you think is the right one... a correct click takes you to the next question, a "wrong" answer/click takes you back to the same question to try again.

Doctors and kind relations will succeed in stupefying mankind, in making mediocrity pass for genius and in bringing civilisation to ruin. Kovrin is a gifted man, well educated. Following the advice of his doctor, he decides to leave his busy city lifestyle and travels to recover his health in a beautiful family country estate. There he meets this mystical and prophetic Black Monk, a character from an ancient legend, which he thinks is nothing more than a hallucination.

Seaside and the sounds of ocean waves is one of the most relaxing experiences. Memories of holidays suddenly become alive and that perfect evening just after sunset when crickets start their gentle tunes. This audio recording features both those enigmatic ocean waves and relaxing evening song of seashore crickets.

Crickets are truly magical creatures. Not only is their iconic chirping often a pleasant evening song during warm mellow summer nights in the country, but in many cultures crickets are associated with good luck, hope and even wealth. Crickets are beloved in Japan, especially for their musical songs. In Brazil, some species are considered to be signs of hope or incoming wealth. Charles Dickens wrote a tale called The Cricket on the Hearth that featured a cricket acting as a household's guardian angel. This recording features gentle cricket chirping accompanying various birds of wild grasslands.

The coyote is smaller than its close relative the gray wolf and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. The coyote holds title of being the most vocal of all wild North American mammals. Both strength and range of vocalizations are among the most complex among such animals. The familiar coyote howl is also known as its greeting song, which forms part of the final act of a complex greeting ceremony. It is the most iconic sound of the coyote.

Birdsong relaxes physically and stimulates cognitively at the same time. People find birdsong relaxing and reassuring because over thousands of years, they have learnt when the birds sing they are safe. This natural soundscape is productivity boosting and can be used at work to help focus, improve cognition and reduce tiredness. Gentle birdsong also masks unwanted background noise, hum, and conversation, which will help with reduction of tension and stress.

We continue to explore the world of our feral friends and learn about some of their darker secrets, some of the naughty episodes of their hidden lives, and some of the most revealing confessions of what cats think about their human masters. It may come as a surprise, but cats often do watch humans and attempt to imitate their behaviour, albeit not always very successfully. And in the second half of this collection we meet humans who don't seem to know how to handle their pets without embarrassment and even those humans who try to be a bit too close to nature for their own good.

The theme of romance continues in this volume and begins with iconic 'The Lady with the Dog' by Anton Chekhov. Set in Yalta, Crimea, appears at first as a holiday romance. Gurov is a married man but he holidays on his own and has a history of holiday affairs. He meets the lady of the story’s title with her Pomeranian dog. But Chekhov’s love stories are not romantic accounts of unrequited love or of love at first sight. Or, even of tortured love that is amplified by the agony of being unfulfilled. No, these are Chekhovian tales that surprise and intrigue our imagination. The second of this collection continues with King Lear.

It's the most wonderful time of the year! The happiest season of them all. This volume offers selected sorties dedicated to Christmas and winder seasons from some of the best storytellers such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William Shakespeare, L. Frank Baum, Anton Chekhov. There'll be tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago. And hearts will be glowing. The collection opens with 'The Heavenly Christmas Tree' by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, followed by 'At Christmas Time' from Anton Chekhov. In the second part we have 'A Kidnapped Santa Claus' by L. Frank Baum, followed by The Winter's Tale from William Shakespeare.

This selection of stories and tales is perfect for that cold winter night to cosy up around fireplace and enter magical world of far away lands or kingdoms of the past. This volume opens with two tales from Beatrix Potter: 'The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse' and 'The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin', followed by 'Puss in Boots' by Charles Perrault. And in the second half we have Anton Chekhov's story, 'A Gentleman Friend', followed by William Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'. Read in English, unabridged.

This traditional Christmas carol was written by the Austrian priest Joseph Mohr, and the music was composed by the Austrian teacher and organist Franz Xaver Gruber. This audio recording of Silent Night includes a reading of the English-language text followed by magical harp music based on the original composition.

Red Riding Hood is walking through the woods, taking a lovely meal to her ailing grandmother. She has been warned about the big bad wolf, but when she meets a shaggy stranger, he insists he is the big good wolf. Should she trust him?

RocketShip is a sci-fi adventure featuring a little red rocket ship called Red. Red, along with his best friends Rex and Holli, travel the universe in search of people to save and help. Together, the team known as the "Rocket Rangers" journey into many adventures, and Red learns what it is to be a true hero and a friend.

People in whom the muscular system is proportionately larger and more highly developed than any of the other systems are Musculars. This system consists of the muscles of the organism. Without them we would be helpless masses of fat and bone; we could not blink an eye nor lift a finger. Yet we are so accustomed to them that we rarely think of them and seldom give them credit for what they do.

Every individual owes it to himself to find the right work and the right mate, because these are fundamental needs of every human being. Lacking them, life is a failure; possessing but one of them, life is half a failure. To obtain and apply the very fullest knowledge toward the attainment of these two great requisites should be the aim of every person. Only those men and women whose natures automatically encourage each other in the doing of the things each likes to do, in the way each likes to do them, can be happy together.

Every individual should find a vocation furnishing one of the three kinds of work for which he has the greatest ability. Then he should go into the particular branch of that vocation which is best adapted to his personality, training, education, environment and experience. To be a success, you must produce something out of the ordinary for the world. To know what this is, classify the kinds of activities you take to naturally. You can be a star in some line that calls for those activities.