Extensive reading improves fluency and there is a real need inthe ELT classroom for motivating, contemporary graded material thatwill instantly appeal to students. "The Pink Panther" is based othe 2006 movie starring Steve Martin and Beyonce Knowles and willbe instantly appealing to teens of all nationalities.

Not so long ago, writes Jeremy Paxman, the English were "polite, unexcitable, reserved, and had hot-water bottles instead of a sex-life". Today the end of empire has killed off the Bulldog Breed - "fearless and philistine, safe in taxis and invaluable in shipwrecks" - and transformed the great public schools. Princess Diana was mourned with the effusive emotionalism of an Italian saint. Leader-writers in "The Times" even praise the sexual skills of English lovers ...So what are the defining features of "Englishness"? How can a country of football hooligans have such an astonishingly low murder rate? Does the nation's sense of itself extend to millions of black, Asian and other immigrant Britons? Is it grounded in arrogant, nostalgic fantasy or can it form the basis for building a realistic future within Europe? To answer these crucial questions, Paxman looks for clues in the English language, literature, luke-warm religion and "curiously passionless devotion" to cricket. He explores attitudes to Catholics, th

Chinglish offers a humorous and insightful look at misuses ofthe English language in Chinese street signs, products, andadvertising. A long-standing favorite of English speaking touristsand visitors, Chinglish is now quickly becoming a culture relic: inpreparation for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the Chinesegovernment was determined to wipe out incorrect English usage.

Suddenly, Tim Carrier, an ordinary guy, is at the center of a mystery of extraordinary proportions, the one man who can save an innocent life and stop a killer far more powerful than any cop…and as relentless as evil incarnate. But first Tim must discover within himself the capacity for selflessness, endurance, and courage that can turn even an ordinary man into a hero, inner resources that will transform his idea of who he is and what it takes to be The Good Guy.

This is the entrancingly entertaining yet amazingly effective guide that shows you how to know the meaning of words that you have never seen or heard before, learn the history of words so that they come alive for you, master an invaluable and permanent technique of word-viewing within 30 days. This is the one book that makes you love to learn.

Compiled from G.L. Apperson's original and painstaking research of nearly three thousand works dating as far back as the twelfth century and earlier, and built upon the foundations of the great Oxford English Dictionary, the Dictionary of Proverbs traces the origins and history of English proverbs and proverbial phrases. The original author has avoided the purely aphoristic and moral, which have little claim to proverbial use, and has codified this notoriously verbal rather than literary form in a way which earned the gratitude of the compilers of the Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. The proverbs are grouped alphabetically and by subject, with copious cross-references throughout, rendering the dictionary as great a joy to consult as it is to browse through. This new edition includes over 500 new entries covering new examples, such as The customer is always right, There's no such thing as a free lunch, If it ain't broke, don't fix it, Life is too short to stuff a mushroom, and The family that prays togethe

Prover, sayings, and other expressions are commonly used every day !They're words that are so familiar, however, that their real meanings have been either lost or confused over the years. For instance, who hasn't wished to be "as free ass a bird"?However, our feathered friends are not carefree.In fact, most birds are pretty anxious creatures with a lot of responsibility. When someone says, "One bad apple spoils the barrdl," it means that no mater how good you are, if someone bad enters your group, it's going to be spoiled. While this may not hold true for all people, it does for apples. When an apple starts to rot ,it produces a chemical called ethylene that cfauses the apple to decay. The other apples in the barrdl detect this chemical reaction and begin to produce their own ethylene, causing all the apples to spoil. "All that glitters is not gold."Anyone who has even seen pyrite, or fool's gold, knows this to be true. Has it ever really rained "cats and dogs"?In 1984,during a rainstorm, part of

The Tornado is back, and a 'Dream Team' of the world's bestdetectives comes to Paris to find this famous thief. The head ofthe French Police chooses Inspector Jacques Clouseau to help. TheDream Team thinks C[ouseau is an idiot. Can he find the PinkPanther diamond and be France's favourite detective once again?