[English] Long-time learner, first-time caller

I tried to read the first paragraph from this article: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/07/still-confused-about-the-higgs-boson-read-this/259472/ and messed up the second sentence, because it is so long. I guess it'll suffice, though. Oh yeah, how do you say a date that is written like "July 4"? Do you add the "th" after 4 or just say it like it is written? The latter sounds totally awkward to me as a German, we always add the "te" after the day.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0zADzusHUWZ