Live and Learn English with Jean Lee

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE Do you take delight in watching films, listening to pop music, or reading books? For English learners, movies, songs, and books are one of the most wonderful sources to explore the language! You can indulge in your favorite pastime and still learn some expressions, words of wisdom, and oftentimes good lessons while you’re at it.   #65. Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender (authored by David R. Hawkins, M.D. Ph.D.) This book teaches us about a simple and effective means by which to let go of the obstacles to Enlightenment and become free of negativity in life. During the many decades of the author’s clinical psychiatric practice, the primary aim was to seek the most effective ways to relieve human suffering in all of its many forms. The mechanism of surrender described by Dr. Hawkins in the book can be done in the midst of everyday life.   “Confusion is our salvation. For the confused, there is still hope. Hang on to your confusion. In the en...

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE Do you take delight in watching films, listening to pop music, or reading books? For English learners, movies, songs, and books are one of the most wonderful sources to explore the language! You can indulge in your favorite pastime and still learn some expressions, words of wisdom, and oftentimes good lessons while you’re at it.   #64. The Painted Veil (film, 2006) This film is based on William Somerset Maugham’s novel that follows Kitty Fane, a young woman who marries for security instead of love. After her husband Walter Fane – who is a bacteriologist - discovers her affair, he takes her with him to a remote part of China during a cholera outbreak. Far from the comforts of her old life, Kitty begins to change. Through helping at a convent and seeing her husband’s compassion and sacrifice, the two slowly reconnect and see each other differently. After her husband’s tragic death due to cholera, Kitty returns to England to raise their unborn child, ...

I'm going to give you some made up two-word phrases in which each word has five letters. Rearrange the letters in one of these words (i.e., one anagram) to complete a familiar two-word phrase . Which word to anagram is for you to discover.   Ex. APPLE DICER --> Apple Cider   1. BAKER PEDAL 2. BLANK SERVE 3. LEGAL FIBER 4. MAID'S TOUCH 5. REGAL PRINT 6. DREAM GUARD 7. DUTCH TATER 8. PEARL DRIVE 9. CLEAN TALES 10. SHORE SENSE   Answer Keys     1.   Baker Pedal => Brake Pedal     2.   Blank Serve => Blank Verse     3.   Legal Fiber => Legal Brief     4.   Maid’s Touch => Midas’ Touch     5.   Regal Print => Large Print     6.   Dream Guard => Armed Guard     7.   Dutch Tater => Dutch Treat     8.   Pearl Drive => Pearl Diver     9.   Clean Tales => Clean S...

Memorial Day is observed each year on the last Monday of May to honor U.S. military members who lost their lives while serving the country. In 2026, Memorial Day falls on Monday, May 25, which is earlier than usual since the holiday can occur anytime between May 25 and May 31. Let us have a Memorial Day Trivia Quiz.       1.    What flower is worn in honor of Memorial Day in the States? ______________        2.    What high military honor is awarded to individuals who have been wounded or lost their lives in service to their country?          P________ H__________ 3.    While Memorial Day is a solemn holiday, it also marks the unofficial start of what season? _______________        4.    Which federal holiday marks summer’s unofficial end? L________ Day      5.    What village in the state of New York is considere...

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE Do you take delight in watching films, listening to pop music, or reading books? For English learners, movies, songs, and books are one of the most wonderful sources to explore the language! You can indulge in your favorite pastime and still learn some expressions, words of wisdom, and oftentimes good lessons while you’re at it. #63. Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, & Happiness (authored by Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein) Nobel Prize-winning economist Richard H. Thaler and legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein explore how carefully designed choice systems can encourage people to make wiser decisions. This guide explains why individuals often make poor financial choices and discusses Thaler and Sunstein’s controversial proposal to rethink marriage by eliminating its traditional legal structure. It also includes insights into the psychological studies behind the book’s ideas, along with newer research that offers updated perspectives o...

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE Do you take delight in watching films, listening to pop music, or reading books? For English learners, movies, songs, and books are one of the most wonderful sources to explore the language! You can indulge in your favorite pastime and still learn some expressions, words of wisdom, and oftentimes good lessons while you’re at it.   #62. Message in a Bottle (film, 1999) This movie is a romantic drama based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks and follows a journalist who discovers a deeply emotional love letter in a bottle and sets out to find the man who wrote it. While jogging along the beach one morning, journalist Theresa comes across a bottle buried in the sand. Inside, she discovers an emotional unsigned love letter that deeply moves her. After the letter is published in her newspaper, Theresa sets out to find its mysterious writer, Garret Blake, a lonely and emotionally exhausted widower living in the Carolinas. However, as Theresa gradually falls de...