Social Linguistics

When a handsome young man begins to court Catherine Sloper, she feels she is very lucky. She is a quiet, gentle girl, but neither beautiful nor clever; no one had ever admired her before, or come to the front parlour of her home in Washington Square to whisper soft words of love to her. But in New York in the 1840s young ladies are not free to marry where they please. Catherine must have her father’s permission, and Dr Sloper is a rich man.

A party of friends exchange ghost stories on Christmas Eve; but everything may not be quite as it seems....

All they could hear was the wind, and the waves crashing on to the rocks. All they could see was the night. They could not see the ship, broken in two. They could not see the people holding on to the dark wet rock, slowly dying of cold. And they could not hear the cries for help - only the wind. How could they save the people on the rock? Was their wooden boat stronger than the iron ship?

Santa Claus lives in the Laughing Valley, where he works throughout the year to make the wonderful toys he delivers on Christmas Eve to his beloved children all over the world. Everyone loves good old Santa Claus - well, everyone but the denizens of the Cave of Daemons, who, after many years of despising the jolly old fellow for bringing cheer to others, decide to take matters into their own hands!

It's Christmas Eve, and Santa has been kidnapped! Will Santa be saved in time to deliver all of the gifts to the children?

Full of unforgettable characters and humour, this is the original edition of On Our Selection as it was first written. These are Steele Rudd's immensely popular stories about the selection on the Darling Downs in Queensland where Dad, Mother, Dave, and the rest of the family nearly starve, and eventually prosper. Rudd meant them as a tribute to small selectors like his own family.

Since logic derives from postulates, it never has, and never will, change a postulate. And a religious belief is a system of postulates...so how can a man fight a native superstition with logic in order to save the inhabitants of an entire planet? A classic science fiction novelette by H. Beam Piper, first published in Analog Science Fact-Science Fiction, in 1960.

The time is the American Civil War: Southern plantation-owner Peyton Farquahr has been condemned to death for spying against the Union cause. As he prepares to be hanged from the Owl Creek Bridge, Farquahr morosely contemplates his fate and fondly recalls his loving wife.

In this haunting tale, Gerald Roylake returns home after his father's death. He becomes reacquainted with Christal Toller, the millkeeper's daughter, but is challenged at every turn by the man who is known only as the Lodger.

Ambrose Bierce's collection of short stories of the supernatural and the macabre Can Such Things Be was first published in 1893. One of it's most frightening tales, "The Damned Thing", tells of the horrifying slaughter of a man by a supernatural and invisible "Thing"!

It first surfaced in the gripes of GIs during World War II and was captured early on by the typewriter of a young Norman Mailer. Within a generation it had become a basic notion of our everyday moral life, replacing older reproaches like lout and heel with a single inclusive category. We have conflicting attitudes about the A-word, but considering how much the word does for us, and to us, it hasn't gotten nearly the attention it deserves - at least until now.

A missing national treasure. A dancer who might be a spy. A double agent. An old actor. A murder. How are they all interconnected? Desmond Okewood, new to the British Secret Service, must impersonate a German agent, infiltrate a band of traitors, and discover the connections.

This short story takes you back to the start of radio in America. Filled with just the right amount of humor this story takes a millionaire's final wish and makes it possible for him to broadcast an approved message through a loud speaker in his headstone. This captured the attention of the nation, but no one expected the worst case scenario, but it is just this scenario that empties a cemetery. Narrated by Glenn Hascall.

Fitz James O'Brien (1828 - 1862) was an Irish-born American writer, some of whose work is considered the forerunner of today's science fiction. The Diamond Lens is his most famous short story and tells the strange story of a scientist who invents a powerful microscope and discovers a beautiful woman in an enchanting microscopic world inside a drop of water.

Get By in Portuguese is devised specifically for travellers. The 70-minute download will help you to get to grips with the basics of spoken Portuguese, and introduces the most relevant language you'll hear when you're there. Listen to the audio a couple of times to practise the key phrases and vocabulary, and familiarise yourself with Portuguese pronunciation.

"Rozhdennaja v nochi" - sbornik rasskazov amerikanskogo pisatelja Dzheka Londona. Opublikovan v 1913 godu. Geroi rasskazov - sil'nye i muzhestvennye ljudi, kotorym v zhizni vypadaet nemalo ispytanij, no nesgibaemaja volja, ostroe zhelanie borot'sja za svoju zhizn' i svoe mesto "pod solncem" ne pokidajut ih. Zdes' net mesta miloserdiju, nereshitel'nost' pochitaetsja za trusost' i vedet k gibeli.

In a hole under the floorboards Silas Marner the linen-weaver keeps his gold. Every day he works hard at his weaving, and every night he takes the gold out and holds the bright coins lovingly, feeling them and counting them again and again. The villagers are afraid of him and he has no family, no friends. Only the gold is his friend, his delight, his reason for living. But what if a thief should come in the night and take his gold away?

Ann Eliza and Evelina Bunner are two unmarried sisters who own a small notions shop in a shabby section of New York City circa 1900. The older sister, Ann Eliza, buys a small clock for her sister's birthday from a tiny shop and meets the owner, a German immigrant named Herman Ramy. Once Mr. Ramy enters their lives, things begin to change in ways that neither sister could have imagined.

This is a story from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes III collection. In this collection are four more individual cases for Mr. Sherlock Holmes, narrated by his faithful friend and admirer Dr. Watson. They dive into the opium dens of London in "The Man with the Twisted Lip," recall the curious history of "The Musgrave Ritual," come face to face with the grisly evidence contained in "The Cardboard Box," and go on a wild-goose chase in "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle." The powers of Sherlock Holmes prevail.

The Lady or the Tiger, which will it be? The unanswerable question, but certainly something to think about. And going even further, did the princess regret her decision later? Originally published in 1882, in The Century magazine by Frank R Stockton, this short story has become an allegorical expression for an unsolvable problem.