An Intermediate Level title in a series of ELT readers comprising a wide range of stories and divided into five levels: Starter Level, with about 300 basic words; Beginner (600); Elementary (1100); Intermediate (1600); and Upper (2200). Some of the titles are also available on cassette.
La actriz Julia Lambert, de 46 años, está en la cúspide de su carrera. Su vida privada transcurre en aparente felicidad, pero lo cierto es que ya no soporta las presiones de su marido y representante por explotar su exito. Un joven admirador de origen americano, Tom Fenell, la invita a recuperar las ganas de vivir, de hacer teatro, y sobre todo, la pasion por el amor... Pero con el tiempo Fenell se convierte en una autentica pesadilla.
Todo transcurre en Oriente, en un archipiélago de islas exóticas envueltas por el cálido sopor de lo inasible, espacio que parece un sueño al mismo tiempo que muestra el duro rostro de la cotidianidad, donde una serie de peculiares personajes encuentran su destino.
Maugham, the quintessential observer of human behaviour, tells the stories of:The Creative Impulse,The Round DozenandJane.Recommended for older readers.
SOMERSET MAUGHAM LLUVIA Y OTROS CUENTOS
La dilatada carrera literaria de William Somerset Maugham estuvo colmada de triunfos, en las primeras décadas del siglo XX como autor teatral en Londres, do
Liza of Lambeth was W. Somerset Maughams first novel, which he wrote while working as a doctor at a hospital in Lambeth, then a working class district of London. It depicts the short life and death of Liza Kemp, an 18-year-old factory worker who lives together with her aging mother in the fictional Vere Street off Westminster Bridge Road (real) in Lambeth. All in all, it gives the reader an interesting insight into the everyday lives of working class Londoners at the end of the nineteenth century. The action covers a period of roughly four months.from August to November.around the time of Queen Victorias Jubilee. Liza Kemp is an 18-year-old factory worker and the youngest of a large family, now living alone with her aging mother. Very popular with all the residents of Vere Street, Lambeth, she likes Tom, a boy her age, but not as much as he likes her, so she rejects him when he proposes. Nevertheless, she is persuaded to join a party of 32 who make a coach trip (in a horse-drawn coach, of course) to a nearby village on the August Bank Holiday Monday. Some of the other members of the party are Tom; Lizas friend Sally and her boyfriend Harry; and Jim Blakeston, a 40-year-old father of 5 who has recently moved to Vere Street with his large family, and his wife (while their eldest daughter, Polly, is taking care of her siblings). The outing is fun, and they all get drunk on beer. On their way back in the dark, Liza realises that Jim Blakeston is making a pass at her by holding her hand. Back home, Jim manages to speak to her alone and to steal a kiss from her.
The Painted Veilis the powerful novel of transgression and redemption by popular and prolific British author W. Somerset Maugham. The booktells the story of the lovely and superficial Kitty Garstin and her unhappy marriage to Walter Fane, a quiet and honorable man. Kitty agrees to marry Walter not because she loves him, but because she fears being upstaged by her younger sister. Kitty travels to Tching-Yen with her new husband, where he is posted as a government scientist, and Kitty soon falls in love with her husbands colleague, the handsome and charming Charlie Townsend. Walter is not as clueless about her behavior as Kitty would like to believe, and eventually rejected by her selfish lover, he has her travel with him to mainland China to help during a dangerous cholera epidemic. The experience utterly transforms Kitty and she begins to take responsibility for her mistakes and understand her shortcomings. Beautiful and deeply affecting, "The Painted Veil" is a thought-provoking study of the ability of people to change, grow, and learn how to love deeply.
Por temor a que su hermana menor se case antes que ella, Kitty Garstin contrae matrimonio con un bacteriólogo que la adora pero de quien no está enamorada. Después de la boda, se trasladan a Hong Kong, donde ella conoce a Charlie Towsend, un inglés frívolo con quien será infiel a su marido. Descubierto el adulterio, y traicionada por Charlie, Kitty se verá obligada a seguir a su marido a una zona de China afectada por el cólera. En 2006 se estrenó en España una exitosa versión cinematográfica de El velo pintado, con Naomi Watts y Edward Norton en los papeles protagonistas. Uno de los autores clásicos de la narrativa inglesa de comienzos del siglo XX, traducido a docenas de idiomas.
Somerset Maugham is one of the world's great story tellers. You turn the pages and enter a magical world of fabulous characters. You feel as if you are curled up listening to the delicious, risque, tales of an old, dear and rather wicked friend. You are transported to the very place, the villa, the street, the bar, the smells and tastes are almost tangible. The ten stories in this collection are 'The Letter', 'The Verger', 'The Vessel of Wrath', 'The Book-Bag', 'The Facts of Life', 'Lord Mountdrago', 'The Colonel's Lady', 'The Treasure', 'Rain' and 'P&O'.With an Afterword by Ned Halley.
Tras el paradójico título de este libro, se encierra una apasionante y divertidísima aventura de la mano del autor de "El filo de la navaja", que en los años treinta decide viajar desde Rangún hasta Haiphong. A caballo, a traves de las selvas y montañas de los Estados Shan, en barco navegando el Irrawady cenagoso hacia Mandalay o en automovil, recorriendo caminos apenas abiertos entre campos de arroz en tierras de Siam, Somerset Maugham mira con el ojo ironico del escritor y va construyendo historias con los personajes mas pintorescos que se encuentra en su camino. Es un viaje en el que el autor nos explica busca el espiritu de Hazlitt de agarrarnos al universo solo mediante un plato de mollejas, no deber nada mas que la cuenta de la cena ser solo conocido con el titulo de El caballero del salon.
