"Last Christmas" is a song by English pop duo WHAM!, released in December 1981. It was written and produced by GEORGE MICHAEL and has been covered by many artists since its original release.
The video to "Last Christmas" shows Wham! members George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley accompanying girlfriends to see friends at an unspecified ski resort: the cable-car that can be seen in two shots is from Saas-Fee, Switzerland.
It is clear that the character of Ridgeley's girlfriend (played by model Kathy Hill) was previously in a relationship with Michael and that the song is aimed at her.
There is a brief flashback to "last Christmas", showing Michael's character presenting her with a jewelled brooch.
In the present time, Ridgeley is wearing the brooch, suggesting that the girl gave the same gift (perhaps by regifting it) to her new love after she and Michael parted ways.
When the girl wears the brooch from Michael's character, it is "right side up", and when Ridgeley's character wears it, he wears it "upside down". On numerous occasions, Michael presents a thoughtful expression, suggesting his conflicting emotions.
Her seeming indifference to Ridgeley's open displays of affection makes the viewer wonder if Ridgeley's heart is the next to be broken.
However, at the end of the video, everyone leaves properly "paired off", so perhaps it is suggested that Michael has worked out his confusion and now realizes he is after all with the right girl.
Wham - Last Christmas
Chorus:
(2)
Last Christmas, I 1……………
you my heart
But the very next day, You gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I'll 2…………….. it to someone
special
Once bitten and twice shy
I keep my distance but you still 3……………
my eye
Tell me baby do you recognize me?
Well it's4……………..
a year, it doesn't surprise me
(Happy Christmas!) I wrapped it up and 5………………
it
With a note saying "I Love You" I meant it
Now I 6…………….. what a fool I've
been
But if you kissed me now I know you'd fool me again
Chorus(2)
(Oooh. Oooh Baby)
A crowded room, friends with tired eyes
I'm hiding from you and your soul of ice
My God I 7………………… you were someone
to rely on
Me? I guess I 8…………….. a shoulder to cry
on
A face on a lover with a fire in his heart
A man undercover but you tore me apart
Oooh Oooh
Now I've 9…………………… a real love
you'll never fool me again
Chorus(2)
A face on a lover with a fire in his heart
(Gave you my heart)
A man undercover but you10…………… me apart
Next year
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone special
special
someone (2)
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone special
who'll give me something in return
I'll give it to someone
hold my heart and watch it burn
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone special
I've got you here to stay
I can love you for a day
I thought you were someone special
gave you my heart
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone
last christmas I gave you my heart
you gave it away
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone
Glossary:
Give away (v) – make a present
Bite (v) – cut or tear with or as if with the teeth.
Distance (n) – space between two objects or places
Recognize (v) - To know or identify from past
experience or knowledge
Wrap (v) - To arrange or fold (something) about as
cover or protection: She wrapped her fur
coat closely about herself.
Thanksgiving is a very American holiday. It is
also called Thanksgiving Day. It is
celebrated on the fourth Thursday in
November every year. It used to be a religious holiday to give thanks to
God.
There are two versions of the origins of this holiday.
One is thanks for the early
settlers arriving in America safely. On December the 4th, 1619, a group of
English pioneers arrived at a place called Berkeley Hundred, in Virginia. The
group made a promise that the day of their arrival should be a "day of
thanksgiving" to God.
The second version is the thanks given to Native Americans for teaching the
pilgrims how to catch eels and grow corn in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
In 1941, President Roosevelt made Thanksgiving a federal holiday.
The
main event of any Thanksgiving is the Thanksgiving
dinner. It is traditional to have baked or roasted turkey. This is usually
accompanied with mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, fall vegetables, cranberry
sauce, and gravy. Pumpkin pie is the most commonly eaten dessert.
The
Thanksgiving holiday weekend is one of the busiest times of the year for
traveling. It is a four-day or five-day weekend vacation for most schools and
colleges, and many businesses and government workers get three or four days
off.
Thanksgiving is also the unofficial signal for Christmas preparations to begin.
Once Thanksgiving finishes, stores fill their shelves with Christmas goods. It
is also a bad time to be a turkey!!!
Black Friday is the
Friday following Thanksgiving day in the
United States (the fourth Thursday of November), often regarded as the
beginning of the Christmas shopping season.
In recent years, most major retailers have opened very early and offered
promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season.
Black Friday is not a holiday, but California and some other states observe
"The Day After Thanksgiving"
as a holiday for state government employees.
American Football is one of the many traditions in American
culture that is associated with Thanksgiving Day.
Virtually every level of football, from amateur and high school to college and
the NFL, plays football on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday) or the immediately
following holiday weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).
BONUS
TRACK: Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday
after the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. The term was created by
marketing companies to encourage people to shop online. It started in 2005 and
it has become one of the biggest online shopping days of the Year.
Stanley Martin Lieber (December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer and former president of Marvel Comics. Some of the comics he helped create are SPIDERMAN, X-MEN, and THE FANTASTIC FOUR.
He has also done cameos in many of the movies based on Marvel characters.
Fantastic Four #1 (1961)
The Amazing Spiderman #1 (1962)
The Incredible Hulk #1 (1962)
Iron Man #1 (1962)
MOST FAMOUS QUOTES: “With great power comes great responsibilty.”
“Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”
“Excelsior!”
“HULK SMASH!”
“Coming from your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man”
Queen are a
British rock band formed in London in 1971 and are one of the most commercially
successful musical acts of all time.
The group originally consisted of
Freddie Mercury (lead vocals), Brian May (lead guitar, vocals), John Deacon
(bass guitar), and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals).
Freddie Mercury is one of the most
dynamic and charismatic frontmen in rock history. Through his legendary
theatrical performances, Queen became one of the most popular bands in the
world in the mid-'70s; in England, they remained second only to The Beatles in
popularity and collectibility in the '90s.
Queen are widely recognised as pioneers
of heavy metal, glam rock, and stadium rock; and they are also well known for
their sports anthems and classic rock radio singles, particularly the hits “We
are the champions”, “We will rock you” and “Bohemian Rhapsody”. The band
promoted the latter, first released in 1975, with one of the earliest
successful music videos.
The band has released a total of 18
number one albums, 18 number one singles, and 10 number one DVDs worldwide
making them one of the world's best-selling music artists.
In the late 80’s, after fans noticed
Mercury's increasingly gaunt appearance in 1988, rumours began to spread that
Mercury was suffering from AIDS. Mercury denied these, insisting he was
merely "exhausted" and too busy to provide interviews.
On November 1991, Freddie announced to
the world that he had AIDS. Just the next day, his fight was over, and he died
peacefully at his home surrounded by friends and family. The world was in
shock. Freddie had kept his illness very private, and only those closest to him
had been aware of just how close to the end he really was.
Alter that, the
legend had just begun…
SONG:
Listen and fill in the gaps with the words in bold:
Queen-We are the champions
face / all / lose / crime / end / time / cruise / few
/ call / friend / through / time / dues / thank / champions
I’ve paid my ……………, ......................... after
……………;
I’ve done my sentence, but committed no ……………
And bad mistakes, I’ve made a ……………
I’ve had
my share of sand kicked in my ......................,
But I’ve come ……………
We are the .............., my ……………
And we’ll keep on fighting 'til the ……………
We are the champions (x2)
No time for losers ‘cos we are the champions of the
world.
I’ve taken my bows and my curtain ……………
You’ve brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with
it;
I ............ you ……………,
But it’s been no bed of roses, no pleasure …………….
I consider it a challenge. Before the whole human race
-
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT STEPHEN HAWKING: - Hawking says his disease made him work harder. He realized he had things to do in life and he better get going.
- He married Jane Wilde after his diagnosis.
- Hawking was born on January 8, 1942, 300 years after the death ofGalileo.
- He was born during World War II. His parents moved from London to Oxford to keep him safe during the war.
- Hawking’s condition continued to get worse. He couldn't speak or walk. However, he kept writing and learning. He used a special computer program to talk for him.
- His work on the universe and black holes has changed the way scientists think about the universe.
- Hawking dreams big. He believes time travel is possible and people may someday live on other planets.
FILL THE GAPS: Stephen Hawking is a ………………… British scientist. He is often on TV and in ……………………… . He lives in Cambridge. He is married and has got three ……………………......
Stephen has got a neurouscular …………………………..: he can`t move and he can`t talk. A nurse helps him to dress, eat and wash. She is with him 24 hours …………… day. He can communicate with other people with a special computer. He uses this computer to teach …………… the University of Cambridge, where he is a professor of mathematics. He has got a special …………………………… with a portable computer.
You can sometimes see him in the streets and shops of Cambridge. He loves ……………………………….. – especially buying clothes for his daughter.
Stephen is an ambitious and determined man. He can`t write so ……………………. his ideas to a secretary. He is the author of a best-selling book …………….. "A Brief History of Time". It is ………………. the beginning of the world and other cosmic mysteries.
Her father taught medicine to this German woman at a young age becoming the first female in the world to graduate with a medical degree, from the University of Halle.
Susan B. Anthony
The 19th Amendment to the American Constitution—which
granted the right to vote to all U.S. women over 21 in 1920—is also known by
her name.
She participated in her first women’s rights convention in 1852. Over the next
54 years, she published "The Revolution"; circulated petitions for married
women’s property rights; gave speeches; called the first Woman Suffrage
Convention in Washington, D.C. (1869); and was arrested for voting (1872).
Charlotte Cooper wins Olympic Gold, 1900
At the original Olympic Games (776 BC) women couldn't even be spectators... Many years later, Charlotte’s tennis skills helped her become the first woman to earn the golden medal at the Summer Olympics in Paris.
She also won five Wimbledon championships during her impressive career.
Malala Yousafzai
When the Taliban group took power in her hometown in
Pakistan and started attacking girls’ schools, she, then a student at school (only
11 years old) gave a speech defending her and all women’s right to an
education.
She used a fake name to blog for the BBC in 2009, talking about
living under the Taliban’s oppressive thumb.
In 2012, the 15-year-old was on
her way home from school when a masked gunman boarded the bus and shot her in
the head. She survived, and after a medically induced coma and multiple
surgeries, she returned to school in England, addressed the United Nations,
published her first book "I Am Malala", and in 2014 she became the youngest person to
win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Marie Curie wins The Nobel Prize in Physics, 1903
She worked
alongside her husband Pierre Curie (who, unlike Einstein, saw his genius wife
as an equal and shared authorship with her on papers they did together).
She shared the award with Antoine Henri Becquerel and her husband Pierre. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and only woman to win twice and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different sciences, for physics in 1903 and for chemistry in 1911
She was also the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris.
Gertrude Ederle swims The English Channel, 1926
Though she was only 20 years old at the time, the young woman could swim across the channel from France and she also beat the previous record by doing so in just 14 hours and 31 minutes.
Reporters at the time called Gertrude “Queen of the Waves.”
Amelia Earhart crosses The Atlantic, 1932
The aviator’s solo flight from Newfoundland, Canada, tried to emulate Charles Lindbergh’s previous journey, with Amelia landing in Paris.
However, icy conditions on the nearly 15-hour trip caused her to make her descent in Derry, Ireland, instead.
She was greeted by a farmer of the land she’d touched down on, who asked how far she had flown. Amelia gave him a shock when she replied “from America!”
Valentina Tereshkova goes to Space, 1963
After beating out more than 400 other applicants, the Russian cosmonaut became the first woman to enter space as the pilot of Vostok 6.
Valentina spent three days in the craft, orbiting Earth 48 times.
Junko Tabei climbs Mount Everest, 1975
Junko became the first woman to make the full ascent as she successfully led a team of 15 women to the top of the mountain. After
that, she became the first woman to climb the highest mountain on every
continent (known as the Seven Summits).
Ali Stroker - Tony Award
After becoming the first actor in a wheelchair in Broadway history in
2015, on June 9, 2019, she became the first performer in a wheelchair to win a Tony Award.
She won the award for her powerhouse performance in the revival of "Oklahoma!"
She dedicated her acceptance speech to “every kid…who has a disability, a
limitation, a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves represented in
this arena.”
Sirimavo Bandaranaike - PM
When Sirimavo Bandaranaike was elected the prime minister of
Sri Lanka in 1960—the first woman to hold a PM position in the world—it was so
unusual to have a female head of government that newspapers were unsure how
to address her.
Mary Wollstonecraft
(1759-97)Writer, feminist and philosopher Wollstonecraft was
the first woman to articulate the gap between the rights of man and rights of
women.
In 1792 she
wrote her book, "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman", which is still powerful today. Her daughter, of course, was Mary Shelley, the famous author of "Frankenstein".
Victoria Woodhull
The first woman who run for president of the United States was
Victoria Woodhull, who started a bid for the presidency in 1872, writing to the New York Herald: “I…claim the right to
speak for the unenfranchised women of the country.”
The Equal Rights Party
chose her as their presidential candidate—and though she didn’t end up
appearing on the ballot, her historical impact can still be felt today.
Janet Guthrie drives in The Indy 500, 1977
Despite the objections of many male drivers, Janet became the first woman to enter a NASCAR competition in 1976. The next year she participated in Indianapolis 500.
Three-time champion A.J. Foyt came to her defense when other drivers tried to prevent her from competing, even loaning her one of his backup cars.
Katherine Johnson - "Hidden figures"
This West Virginian was always exceptional at math. In 1939,
she was one of three black students (and the only female) to be offered a spot
at West Virginia University.
According to NASA,
in 1962, John Glenn refused to take his orbital mission, which would shift the
Soviet-American space race, until “the girl” ran the numbers personally as he
didn’t trust only the computer to do it. In her 33 years with NASA, she also
did calculations for the Project Apollo Lunar Lander, the Space Shuttle, and
the Earth Resources Satellite.
Edith Wharton - Pulitzer Prize for literature
A member of
East Coast high society, she became novelist and short story writer, and the first
woman to get the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1921 for her book "The Age of Innocence"—despite
never attending school.
She also was awarded France’s Cross of the Legion of Honor for feeding and housing 600 Belgian refugee
orphans during World War I, because she was living in Paris when the fighting started.
Kathryn Bigelow wins the Oscar for Best Director, 2010
Her film "The Hurt Locker" was nominated the same year her ex-husband, James Cameron, was up for several of the same awards with "Avatar".
Kathryn not only beat him to the Best Director title, she got the Best Picture award, too.
Grace Hopper
She worked on the “Mark I project”, one of the original functioning
computers, through Harvard and the United States Naval Reserve, as well as its
future iterations Mark II and III. She led the team that invented COBOL (Common
Business-Oriented Language), the first programming language that used words
instead of numbers. It is still used today.
Anna Bissell - CEO
Although it was her husband who invented the carpet-sweeping
machine in 1876 and founded Bissell, Anna Bissell became the CEO of the company
in 1889, making her the first female CEO in America.
After her husband’s death, Anna was the one who took the
sweepers to the next level with aggressive marketing. She traveled around the
country selling sweepers and making deals with major retailers to carry the
Bissell brand. Eventually, she took the brand international.
Ella Fitzgerald
She’s known as the “First Lady of Song” for a reason!
The
first-ever woman to win two Grammies and first African-American to win the
award.
In her life, she performed at Carnegie Hall 26 times and won 11 Grammies
after her history-making first two.
