[The Tube, Subway, Underground, Metro... where is it better?]

Ну вот, идеально здесь поговорка -все познается в сравнении, а я не знаю, или не помню английский эквивалент. ПОЗОР. Кстати, как найти поговорку или пословицу быстро (именно ту что нужно!) если нет спец словаря,.т.е. при помощи НЕТа?

[How to deal with stage fright]

Nice topic to discuss. I still remember a conference in Sochi in 2006 for teachers from diff corners of our large country. The event was devoted to the promotion of Spotlight (then a new one ). The whole thing was held at a nice hotel. it was a three-day occasion for about 100 participants. Leading lecturers were English - professional lecturers and authors of the book. Among russian ones were Afanasieva, Vaulina and other authors, people with considerable experience in perfoming for large audiences (and sophisticated at that). English lecturers were absolutely admirable - the English lecturers used all possible techniques to hold our attention - clever structuring of the talk,interesting facts, lively examples, comparisons, visio/audio aids saying nothing about sparkling humor. the audience was engaged is nothing to say. we were simply clued to the speakers, were were rocking with laughter we answered provoking questions, we caught new jokes. Yeah, the people were aces in delivering talks.

Well, this is kind of background.

Now two specialities))

A part of the time of the conference was supposed to be given to common teachers piloting the new book to share experience. Turn came to a nice middle-aged woman. She took her place in front of us and opened her mouth to say the first word. We were ready to listen whatever she was going to say. But to the woman happened what you call a fit of stage fight - the woman talked russian so i'll switch to the language - только начиная говорить по теме, она начинала тут же истерично голосить"Нет, нет,нет, не могу, не могу" закрывала лицо руками и ...с ней происходило, что-то ужасное. Несколько секунд постоит, начинает еще раз, и тоже самое - всхлипы и крики"нет,нет,нет" Добрая женщина из нашего первого ряда, вышла и обняла ее., погладила как маленькую, сказала, что мы здесь все сами такие. Вроде, все ок. Но и в третий и четвертый раз случилось тоже.попыток не менее шести. Мы получили целое представление, очень поучительное. Причем мнения разделились, кто считал, что она просто неумная (это эвфемизм), кто сочувствовал. но выводы сделали все, что выступить так как это делали англичане, надо пройти через серьезную учебу, тренировки, и длительный опыт, так как надо сказать, всем русским было ооооочень далеко до них (даже опытным авторам)

Second, the participant of this story was me, but still as a listener. A Russian young man, some professional in the area too, from some Moscow university, was to give a talk on a student's portfolio, quite a fresh topic at that time. My director was proud to know Alexey (the young man's name) personally.Well I have to say a couple of words about his appearence 'cuz it is very important to the picture. It was a typical Muscovite man, affected, a bit womanish in the way he talked and moved. He had a choice to speak Russian or English. My director begged him to speak Еnglish. I was in the second row, that is in everybody's view. He started. He used so pathetic intonation!as if he was reading a poem about love, every time he said "poortfooliiooo" he looked heavenward.Next to me was sitting a remarkable woman as if from soviet times, big- breasted, the same in size hairdo, brightly blue eyelids overtly far from the "topic" ,natrurally, she started to fall asleep.The rest were politely though somewhat surprised listening to the nightingale-like lecturer. The situation was really comic, Understandably, quite an awful thing happened to me - fits of uncontrolled laughter suffocated me every time he said "portfolio" and he repeated the word all the time. I really went off into hysterics. I could do nothing but hold my mouth tightly. I wished the ground would swallow me up. To leave the place in this state meant to expose my state to everybody, My collegue next to me was awfully embarassed not less than me, with shaking hands she gave me a visit card to distract my mind by repeating a tel number on it but it helped for seconds. It was a torture.

Conclusion - make sure that the way you speak and behave is adequate to the content of your speech.