Web site - http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net

this website reads what one has written in English. When you don't know how to pronounce some words or phrases, it is very useful.

Web site - Splendid speaking

It is more useful to intermediate language learner or advanced learner than low-level learner. You can sign up with only your e-mail address and name. There are daily colloquial expression exercises. It is also useful to people who prepare FCE or CAE. You can download exam speaking guide and speaking task every week for free. And you can download grading sheet also.

Web site - Speaking Max

It is easy to use... First, it doesn't need to install anything. Second, you can practice English interview with New York and Ivy League. Third, you can study with book bought and internet resources. Forth, you can check your intonation compared to native intonation. It is very helpful to English speaking learning.

American culture - Views on justice and the death penalty

Capital punishment has been a contentious social issue in the United States. Historically, a large majority of the American public has favored it in cases of murder. In 1994 public support reached an all-time high of 80%. It has diminished since then. There has been strong opposition. The number of death sentences has been in a steady decline from 2001 to 2011. 65% of Americans believe the death penalty is justified, although support is lower when respondents are given a choice of the death penalty or life imprisonment with no possibility of parole. 50% of those cited appeal to fairness, or revenge, as being their reason for supporting the death penalty and 11% cited deterrence as a motivation. 29% were opposed to the death penalty. Capital punishment can be used in the U.S. for capital crimes in some states. Currently the use of the death penalty is determined mostly by individual states. As of March 2011, the following U.S. states have fully abolished the death penalty: Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

American culture - Visual arts

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, American artists primarily painted landscapes and portraits in a realistic style. A parallel development taking shape in rural America was the American craft movement, which began as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution. Developments in modern art in Europe came to America from exhibitions in New York City such as the Armory Show in 1913. After World War II, New York emerged as a center of the art world. Painting in the United States today covers a vast range of styles. Architecture Architecture in the United States is regionally diverse and has been shaped by many external forces, not only English. U.S. architecture can therefore be said to be eclectic, something unsurprising in such a multicultural society. In the absence of a single large-scale architectural influence from indigenous peoples such as those in Mexico or Peru, generations of designers have incorporated influences from around the world. Currently, the overriding theme of American Architecture is modernity: an example of which are the skyscrapers of the 20th century. Early Neoclassicism accompanied the Founding Father's idealization of European Enlightenment, making it the predominant architectural style for public buildings and large manors. However, in recent years, the suburbanization and mass migration to the Sun Belt has allowed architecture to reflect a Mediterranean style as well. Sculpture The history of sculpture in the United States reflects the country's 18th century foundation in Roman republican civic values as well as Protestant Christianity.

American culture - Science and tech.

There is a fondness for scientific advancement and technological innovation in American culture, resulting in the flow of many modern innovations. The great American inventors include Robert Fulton (the steamboat); Samuel Morse (the telegraph); Eli Whitney (the cotton gin, interchangeable parts); Cyrus McCormick (the reaper); and Thomas Edison (with more than a thousand inventions credited to his name). This propensity for application of scientific ideas continued throughout the 20th century with innovations that held strong international benefits. The twentieth century saw the arrival of the Space Age, the Information Age, and a renaissance in the health sciences. This culminated in cultural milestones such as the Apollo moon landings, the creation of the Personal Computer, and the sequencing effort called the Human Genome Project. Throughout its history, American culture has made significant gains through the open immigration of accomplished scientists. Accomplished scientists include: Scottish scientist Alexander Graham Bell, who developed and patented the telephone and many other inventions in 1872; German scientist Charles Steinmetz, who developed new alternating-current electrical systems in 1889; Russian scientist Vladimir Zworykin, who invented the motion camera in 1919; Serb scientist Nikola Tesla who invented the brushless electrical motor based on rotating magnetic fields in 1884. With the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, a large number of scientists fled Germany and immigrated to the country, one of them being theoretical physicist Albert Einstein in the year 1933. In the years during and following WWII, several innovative scientists immigrated to the U.S. from Europe, such as Enrico Fermi, who came from Italy in 1938 and led the work that produced the world's first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. Post-war Europe saw many of its scientists, such as rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, recruited by the United States as part of Operation Paperclip.

American culture - Drugs and Alchol

merican attitudes towards drugs and alcoholic beverages have evolved considerably throughout the country's history. In the 19th century, alcohol was readily available and consumed, and no laws restricted the use of other drugs. Attitudes on drug addiction started to change, resulting in the Harrison Act which eventually became proscriptive. A movement to ban alcoholic beverages, called the Temperance movement, emerged in the late 19th century. Several American Protestant religious groups, as well as women's groups such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union, supported the movement. In 1919, Prohibitionists succeeded in amending the Constitution to prohibit the sale of alcohol. Although the Prohibition period did result in lowering alcohol consumption overall, banning alcohol outright proved to be unworkable, as the previously legitimate distillery industry was replaced by criminal gangs which trafficked in alcohol. Prohibition was repealed in 1931. States and localities retained the right to remain "dry", and to this day, a handful still do. During the Vietnam War era, attitudes swung well away from prohibition. Commentators noted that an 18-year-old could be drafted to war but could not buy a beer. Since 1980, the trend has been toward greater restrictions on alcohol and drug use. The focus this time, however, has been to criminalize behaviors associated with alcohol, rather than attempt to prohibit consumption outright. New York was the first state to enact tough drunk-driving laws in 1980; since then all other states have followed suit. A "Just Say No to Drugs" movement replaced the more libertine ethos of the 1960s. As a result, since the late half of the 1980s to about the year 2000, all states made the legal drinking age (to purchase alcoholic beverages) at 21. Since the 1990s, Marijuana use has become increasingly tolerated in America, with a number of states allowing the use of Marijuana for medical purposes. However, marijuana is still illegal without medical prescription. Other illegal drugs include, but are not limited to: heroine, meth, mushrooms, cocaine, and speed. Production of drugs is highly illegal.