Angielski z Roy`em (mp3)

A GREAT CONFERENCE

Last week, I spent three very interesting days translating at a conference about disabled (dysejbyld, = niepełnosprawne) people and the jobs market in Baranów Sandomierski. There was a very interesting presentation by a local centre for the learning disabled (= umysłowo upośledzonych) about the work experience placements (= staży) that people at the centre have been on. One of them has now got a full-time job: both she and her employer spoke at the conference. Although things have become better for the disabled in this country, many of them don't look for work because they are afraid of losing their disability benefit (= zasiłek). We must change the law so that they get this benefit throughout (poprzez całe…) their lives.

Moreover, PFRON, the state fund for the disabled, has done a lot for disabled people in this country, providing (prowajdiń, to provide = dostarczać) minibuses, training, special equipment (= sprzęt) for people who need it… The government must not be allowed to go ahead with its plan to close it!

One of the most inspiring (ynspajriń) presentations was by a member of the Koła Środowiskowego Osób Niepełnosprawnych nr 26. This is a group of disabled people who travel to places that are often difficult for them to get to, such as the mountains in southern Poland. Apart from wanting to have a good time, their goal is to encourage people to make the places they visit more accessible (aksesybyl, = dostępny) to disabled people. To find out more about them, read the article entitled Pasjonaci na wózkach at www.gosciniec.pttk.pl.

TO SAVE OR NOT TO SAVE?

BNN, a Dutch TV channel, has recently taken reality TV a step (= krok) further. The Donor Show was a show in which a dying woman who wanted to give a kidney (kydni, = nerka) to someone had to choose between three candidates. The show caused a storm of protest: many Dutch (dacz, = holenderski) and other European politicians said that it was immoral. When the moment came for the woman to decide, the whole thing was revealed (rywijld, to reveal = ujawnić) to have been a trick (= figiel). The woman is a perfectly healthy actress and the candidates had known what was going on. The TV station has said that its intention was to make people realise that there are not enough transplant organs: one of its bosses died a few years ago while waiting for one. Hopefully, the show has also helped people to see how hard it is for doctors to decide who to give an organ to.

STRANGE BUT TRUE!

Timothy Rouse, a dangerous prisoner (pryzonyr, więzień) held in a maximum security prison in Kentucky, recently escaped from jail (= prison). He did it without hurting anybody or breaking anything. His friends went to the local grocery store and faxed a letter that was supposedly (= przypuszczalnie) from 'the highest court (kort, = sąd) in the state' to the prison authorities telling them to let him go free. Although the letter didn't have a letterhead (= nagłówek, papier firmowy) and had many grammar and spelling mistakes in it, the prison authorities let him go: it's not unusual for them to see court documents with spelling mistakes in them. In fact, it took them two weeks to realise (= zdać sobie sprawę z czegoś) their mistake. It wasn't too hard to find him, though: the police found him at his mother's house!