Uczmy się angielskiego (mp3)

Big Brother has been watching my computer lately. I wish that I hadn't downloaded the Windows update that found out that my copy of the operating system isn't exactly legal. It's made my life rather difficult: I can't attach (ytacz, = załączyć) Word files to e-mails unless they're in WordPad, nor can I listen to music on my computer. Oh well, it's not the end of the world (= it's not so bad!)!

BLACK BOXES

Young people who hang about (= wait) on the streets are having their ears blasted (blast = zadęcie) in Britain. A year and a half ago, a company called Compound Security started producing black boxes that put out an unpleasant high-pitched (= piszczący) sound that only people under 25 can hear. So far, the customers have been anybody that doesn't like the idea of young people hanging about on the streets: in other words, the police; councils, shop owners and homeowners. The company says that the boxes won't damage people's hearing. Moreover, they only sell them to private individuals (yndywydjuyls, = private people, not businesses) if they can prove (= udowodnić) that anti-social (= not nice) behaviour has been causing problems for them and the police support (= popierać) them. However, not everybody over 25 is happy about the boxes being used. A civil liberties organisation has said that they are not fair because any teenager there at the time is affected by them going off (to go off = to start making the sound). Moreover, the organisation feels that they violate (wajolejt, to violate = naruszyć) young people's right to a private life and discriminate (dyskrymynejt) against them. I agree. Anything or anyone that labels (to label = przylepić komuś etykietką) a whole group of people as trouble-makers is unacceptable.
IKEATOWN

Imagine getting a flat in an Ikea flatpack (= a flat box) that looked almost the same as other Ikea flats. Well, Ikea is now offering BoKlok (bukluk) homes: BoKlok means 'smart living' in Swedish. 3,500 of them have been built in Scandinavia and they are just starting to appear in Britain. They are made in a factory in units (= jednostki) which are then put together using a crane (krejn, = drzwig): it only takes a day to put a block up. Each block has two floors, with three flats on each floor. The flats aren't very big, but they have high ceilings (silyńs, = sufity) and big windows on three sides. Oh, and each Swedish BoKlok block comes complete with an apple tree for the people who live there to take care of and a bench for them to sit and socialise (sołszylajz, = talk to people) on. They even get Ikea vouchers (wałczers, = bony towarowy) when they move in. Who would want to live in them? According to Ikea, the typical BoKlok homeowner would be a woman. She would be a single parent with one child and no car. Moreover, she'd be earning the same as most people. She'd want to live in a safe, small place near the country. She'd want contact with her neighbours and an airy (= used for buildings that make you feel that they are spacious