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The japanese language is full of poetic idioms. Translate them into english and discover their meaning.

...ZZZZZzzzzz....

What? Oh sorry, we were just having a cat nap.

Have you ever heard someone use this expression? It means to have a short nap during the day.

It is not hard to understand where the expression comes from: in the early 1800s, people began using this term to describe short periods of sleep during the day that were similar to those cats have. Cats are notorious for sleeping up to 12 to 16 hours a day! Sometimes they sleep for several hours, but often they just doze in the sunlight for minutes at a time.

However, do you know the origin of napping? It all started in Ancient Egypt. The cat was a sacred animal at that time so the Pharaohs began to  emulate this animal's behaviour.

Beyoncé, the Queen of Pop and R&B.

She has been singing since she was a child and now, after recently having her own child, released her fifth album Beyoncé which immediately went to #1.

Today, we will be using her song XO to learn some new English vocabulary. Ready? This is what you have to do:

1. Read the lyrics
2. Understand the vocabulary
3. SING!

When you’re alone, do you talk to yourself? I do. I will have whole conversations with myself while cooking, cleaning, or driving a car. I’m not embarassed about it, although I know I might look strange to other people who walk into the room (I try to do it only when nobody will hear or see me talking, but sometimes I get caught...).

I know I’m not the only one—it’s a funny habit, but it’s pretty common. For me, it helps me to think more clearly. If I think out loud, literally speaking my mind, then I can reason through a problem or situation more quickly and effectively. If I am silent, it’s a bit more difficult to think straight.

Even if you don’t have the same experience with talking out loud, it’s still a good idea to talk to yourself if you’re preparing for the TOEFL. That’s because a quarter of the test actually is talking to yourself. Well, technically, you speak into a microphone, but there is nobody listening as you talk, and nobody responds to you, so it’s very similar to talking to yourself. And in general, to improve your TOEFL scores, you will want to practice doing the tasks that the test requires of you.

With Halloween just around the corner it’s a great time to learn some vocabulary used during this fun day.

Imagine someone does something you do not like. Saying “I don’t like it” or “I don’t like this” can sound a little bit childish. So today we will learn a couple of ways to say ...