英语博客(A cup of English):048 The Ring of Power

　　Beginners.

To be a film 'buff' is to be a film enthusiast 1; a person who loves to watch films and who follows film production quite closely. I am a film buff, but a choosy one. There are certain films that I love, and others that I cannot stand. A film series that I have followed closely is The Lord of the Rings. When the first of the three films came out, it was immediately popular. The films are based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkein who was British, but born in South Africa. The genre 2 of his books is fantasy. At the center of the books is a fight between good and evil. The story is set in a place called 'Middle Earth', a fictitious 3 country with incredible countryside. The films were directed by Peter Jackson in New Zealand, where he comes from. If you watch the films, you will see why New Zealand is the perfect Middle Earth. There is a huge variety of landscapes in that small country. The incredible Alps, large rolling grasslands 4, rocky hills, and wind swept valleys are all places where the filming took place. I never get tired of watching the movies; infact, I have watched them so many times that I know a lot of the dialogue by heart. I also have the music score from the films. When my family find me watching the films or listening to the music, they just roll their eyes and say, "Oh, she's at it again."

Grammar notes.

Related vocabulary: fantasy, historical, drama, adventure, romance, war film, documentary, cinematography, dialogue, play, special effects, script, themes.

Verbs: Past perfect: I have watched that film many times. We have watched his moves very closely; he is suspicious. They have played tennis so much in their garden that they have worn the lawn thin.

Advanced.

Sometimes my children give me little gifts. They are often items that they have made at school, a picture, a collage 5, occasionally a bracelet 6 made out of paper or beads 7. The other day, though, my oldest son gave me a metal ring that he had acquired from a friend of his. He had traded a small toy for it. He presented it to me with great pride; he knew that I would like it. It was a replica 8 of the 'ring of power' from the Lord of the Rings. My kids know how obsessed 9 I am with the trilogy, so this gift was quite meaningful. I wore it with pride for a few weeks; I even showed it to a few people. I noticed, however, that my finger was developing a brown patch under the ring, so I promptly 10 took it off. I didn't want to get poisoning from a cheap quality paint. Anyway, it made me think about the concept of having a ring of power. I suppose it is an age-old idea, possessing an object that gives supernatural power. What would you do if you had one? Would you bring about world peace, or world domination? Would you help all of the needy 11 people, or oppress them? Would you replant all of the rainforests, or chop them down and turn them into toothpicks? There would be lots of decisions to make and, I'm sure, lots of tempation to resist. Life could be a lot more comfortable, though, couldn't it? What do you think?

Grammar notes.

Verbs: to present, to resist, to acquire, to trade, to wear (wear, wore, worn), to suppose.

Would: pronounced the same as 'wood'. Easy to use; simply place infront of infinitive 12. Exs: I would go to the doctor if I were you. She would help you if you asked. They would get a new car if they could afford it.